SC refuses to vacate order allowing women to NDA exam this year

By Legal Wires 4 Minutes Read

The Supreme Court refused to vacate its order allowing women candidates to appear for the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy examinations this year.

Kush Kalra v. Union of India

The Ministry of Defence had informed the Supreme Court that a notification allowing women candidates to take the entrance exam for entry into the National Defence Academy (NDA) would be released for next year, in May 2022. The Ministry said that certain infrastructural and curriculum changes are required before allowing the induction of women.

The Bench of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul observed that the admission of women cannot be postponed. The bench observed that the armed forces are well-trained to deal with emergencies and hence they will be able to come up with a faster solution to facilitate the entry of women soon.

The court stated that it cannot vacate its previous order of allowing women to take the exams for this year since hope was already given to willing candidates.

“It would be difficult for us to accept the submissions of the Centre in view of the aspirations of the candidates willing to take the exam. Armed Forces has seen far emergent situations both at the border and in the country. We are sure such training will come handy here. We will thus not vacate the order passed by us. We will keep the plea pending here so that directions can be sought as situations arise,” the court said.

The court further stated that instead of allowing women to write the exams next year, the Centre should try to work out something for the women candidates.

The court suggested that “the armed forces deal with emergencies. So I don’t believe that armed forces response team will not be able to deal with the scenario…..not many many have enrolled for the exam this time. So numbers might be smaller. So instead of skipping the exam, try to work out something for them.”