Junks pleas challenging recruitment scheme

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed petitions challenging the Centre’s Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces, saying “it is formulated in the national interest to ensure that the forces are better equipped”.

“This court finds that the petitioners have no vested right to claim that the recruitment under the 2019 notification and CEE (Combined Entrance Examination) needs to be completed,” said a Bench led by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The Bench, which had reserved its verdict on the petitions on December 15, 2022, said, “The petitioners have no vested right to seek such recruitment, and secondly, that promissory estoppel and legitimate expectation find themselves severely restricted by the overarching concerns of public interest.”

The Bench also rejected the petitioners’ contention that those who took part in the regular recruitment process should be placed on a par with individuals who were recruited through rallies, saying the argument did not hold water.

Under the Agnipath scheme announced in June last year, youth aged between 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted into the armed forces for four years and 25 per cent of them would be retained for 15 more years. Later, the government extended the upper age limit for recruitment to 23 years.