The Delhi
High Court on Monday upheld the Centre's Agnipath scheme for
recruitment in the armed forces, saying it was made in national interest
and to ensure that the armed forces are better equipped.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and
Justice Subramonium Prasad dismissed a batch of petitions assailing the scheme,
and said there was no reason to interfere with it.
The court also dismissed petitions relating to
recruitment process for the armed forces under certain previous advertisements
while clarifying that such candidates do not have a right to seek recruitment.
A
bench had on December 15 last year reserved its verdict on the matter.
The Agnipath scheme, unveiled on June 14, 2022, lays
out rules for the recruitment of youths in the armed forces.
According to these rules, those between 17-and-a-half
and 21 years of age are eligible to apply and they would be inducted for a
four-year tenure. The scheme allows 25 per cent of them to be granted
regular service subsequently. After the scheme was unveiled, protests
erupted in several states against the scheme.
Later, the government extended the upper age limit to
23 years for recruitment in 2022.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati and
central government standing counsel Harish Vaidyanathan, representing the
Centre, had said the Agnipath scheme is one of the biggest policy changes in
defence recruitment and was going to bring a paradigm shift in the way the
armed forces recruit personnel.
"More than 10 lakh aspirants have taken advantage
of the two-year age relaxation given by us... A lot of things we cannot say on
affidavit, but we have acted in bona fide manner," the ASG has said.
The high court had also asked the Centre to justify
different pay scales of 'Agniveers' and regular sepoys in the Indian Army if
their job profile is same.
Defending its Agnipath scheme, the Centre has said a
large amount of study has gone into this policy and it was not a decision which
was taken lightly and the Union of India was mindful and cognisant of the
situation.
Earlier, the bench had asked the petitioners who have
challenged the Centre's short-term military recruitment scheme Agnipath as to
which of their rights have been violated and said it was voluntary and those
having any problem should not join the armed forces under it.
The high court had said the Agnipath scheme has been
formed by experts in the Army, Navy and Air Force, and judges were not military
experts.
One of the petitioner's counsel had said that after
being recruited under the scheme, the Agniveers will have life insurance of Rs
48 lakh in case of contingency which is much less than the existing one.
Whatever the armed forces personnel are entitled to,
these Agniveers will get them only for four years, the counsel had argued,
adding that if the service would have been for five years, they would have been
entitled to gratuity.
The Centre had earlier filed its consolidated reply to
several petitions against the Agnipath scheme as well as those concerning the
recruitment processes for the armed forces under certain previous
advertisements and has said there was no legal infirmity in it.
The government submitted that the Agnipath scheme was
introduced in the exercise of its sovereign function to make national security
and defence more "robust, "impenetrable" and "abreast with
changing military requirements".
One of the petitions before the high court has sought
a direction to the armed forces to resume the recruitment process which has
been cancelled due to the introduction of the Agnipath scheme and prepare the
final merit list after conducting a written examination within a stipulated
time.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the high courts
of Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, Patna and Uttarakhand to transfer the PILs
against the Agnipath scheme pending before them to the Delhi High Court or
keep it pending till a decision from the Delhi High Court is
delivered, if the petitioners before it so desire.