Vijay Mohan,Tribune News Service,Chandigarh, February 9
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has, in a landmark judgment, ruled that a woman candidate cannot be permanently debarred from joining as a doctor in the Army Medical Corps (AMC) on the pretext that she had conceived during the selection process.The court order came on the petition of a woman doctor, who had wanted to join the Army as a Short Service Commission Officer, but was later denied the opportunity on the grounds that her pregnancy amounted to deterioration in health. The court ruled that denying appointment to the petitioner merely on account of her pregnancy was arbitrary and illegal.The petitioner was asked to join service in February 2014 after clearing all examinations and medical tests. Unlike other branches, married women till the age of 45 are eligible to join AMC and there is no training in a military academy. Selected candidates join a hospital closest to residence and are required to complete a basic in-service course of eight weeks within a flexible time period.However, between the period of her application and joining, the petitioner conceived and disclosed this fact on the date of joining after which she was not allowed to assume duties. Her candidature was cancelled and she was advised to undergo the entire selection process again in case she wanted to join AMC.Aggrieved, the petitioner moved the High Court in 2014, averring that pregnancy was not ‘deterioration in health’ but a mere incidence of marriage and womanhood. She pointed out that there would have been no problem had she not disclosed her pregnancy or had conceived the day after joining or had given birth before the joining date and that in paramilitary forces uniformed doctors were simply asked to join after childbirth in case any problem was envisaged due to pregnancy.The court directed the Army to offer appointment to the petitioner within a period of one month.
HC: Woman can’t be barred from joining AMC if she gets pregnant
PETITIONER DOCTOR WAS DECLARED QUALIFIED AND MEDICALLY FIT IN 2013 TO JOIN SSC AFTER VARIOUS STAGES OF THE SELECTION PROCESS
CHANDIGARH: In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana high court has held that a woman cannot be forced to make a choice between bearing a child and employment. Directing the Army Medical Corps (AMC) to appoint a doctor, who was termed unfit as she was pregnant at the time of joining the service, the high court bench said such an action can have no place in modern India.
Passing a 36-page judgment on a petition by the woman, justice Harinder Singh Sidhu held that forcing a choice between bearing a child and employment interferes both with a woman’s reproductive rights and her right to employment.
“It is against the weight of the judicial precedents from major jurisdictions across the globe interpreting laws prohibiting gender discrimination. Most of all, by forcing a choice between bearing a child and employment, it interferes both, with her reproductive rights and her right to employment. Such an action can have no place in modern India,” the HC said.
The petitioner doctor was declared qualified and medically fit in 2013 to join short-service commission (SSC) after various stages of the selection process. However, at the time of joining in February 2014, she was declared medically unfit as during the prolonged period between the selection process and the joining, she became pregnant.
Unlike other branches, married women till the age of 45 are eligible to join the AMC and there is no training in a military academy. Candidates join a hospital closest to residence and are made to complete a basic in-service course of eight weeks within a flexible time period. The AMC had argued that since the petitioner was not in a fit condition to be granted SSC and there being no provision for extension of date of joining, she was not given appointment as she was not found in the ‘shape’ to be required at the time of joining.
“It (the action of army) violates Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution….. to the extent it lays down that pregnancy would render a candidate unfit for commissioning is also illegal and unconstitutional and is so declared. However, keeping in view the nature and responsibilities of the job in question, it would be open to the respondents to devise any appropriate procedure to either give appointment on selection and grant maternity leave or keep a vacancy against which the woman candidate who is pregnant was selected,” the HC said.