PERMANENT COMMISSION FOR WOMEN

PERMANENT COMMISSION FOR WOMEN

Subject : Defence

Context : The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the pleas of several women short service commission (SSC) officers seeking grant of permanent commission in the Army, while holding that the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) evaluation process was flawed and discriminatory in nature.

Concept :

Background

• Under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme, women were commissioned into the Army for a period of 10 years, extendable up to 14 years.
• Women were, however, restricted to roles in specified streams such as Army Education Corps, Corps of Signals, Intelligence Corps, and Corps of Engineers. These specified streams excluded combat arms such as infantry and armoured corps.
• While male SSC officers could opt for permanent commission at the end of 10 years of service, this option was not available to women officers. Women officers, were, thus, kept out of any command appointment, and could not qualify for government pension, which starts only after 20 years of service as an officer.
• However, in the February 2019 policy statement, the Government endorsed the permanent commission for SSC women officers in 10 streams of the ‘Combat Support Arms’ and ‘Services’ sections. But it was said that the women officers would not be offered any command appointments, and would serve only in staff posts.

Permanent Commission (PC) Vs. Short Service Commission (SSC)

• SSC means an officer’s career will be of a limited period in the Indian Armed Forces whereas a PC means they shall continue to serve in the Indian Armed Forces, till they retire.
• The officers inducted through the SSC usually serve for a period of 14 years. At the end of 10 years, the officers have three options.
• A PC entitles an officer to serve in the Navy till he/she retires unlike SSC, which is currently for 10 years and can be extended by four more years, or a total of 14 years.
• They can either select for a PC or opt-out or have the option of a 4-years extension. They can resign at any time during this period of 4 years extension.