In a long delayed, yet landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has allowed women to appear for National Defence Academy exams, popularly known as the NDA exam.

The petition filed by lawyer Kush Kalra seeks equal opportunity for women at par with men to get admission at the prestigious Pune-based National Defence Academy (NDA) and Kerala-based Indian Naval Academy (INA), both these academies do not recruit women cadets. 

In response to the petition, the centre told Supreme Court that women cannot claim violation of any fundamental right for being denied entry at the National Defence Academy or the Indian Naval Academy, as the male cadets trained there do not have any automatic advantage in future career advancement prospects over the women whose only route to enter the Army is by recruitment through short service commission.

“Women are being granted equal opportunity in the armed forces in the avenues that have been opened up for employment of women. There is no violation of any fundamental right merely on account of the mode of entries available to men and women to join the armed forces”, the centre added, before the bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy.

The petition stated that categorical exclusion of women to train at the National Defence Academy and get commissioned into the Armed Forces of the Country as Permanent Commissioned Officers solely on the basis of their sex. According to the petitioner, the eligible and willing female candidates are being denied the opportunity of entry to the National Defence Academy on the basis of their sex, thereby systematically and categorically excluding eligible female candidates the opportunity to train at the premier joint training institute of the Indian Armed Forces which, at a later point of time, becomes a hurdle in the career advancement opportunities for Female Officers in the Armed Forces. 

The top court slammed Army for not allowing women to take part in NDA exams. On Army’s submission that it’s a policy decision, the Supreme Court observed that this policy decision is based on “gender discrimination”.

The Supreme Court has passed an interim order to allow women to appear for the admission exam to the National Defence Academy. The decision of the Supreme Court is a landmark step towards women empowerment and corrective change to prevent perceived gender bias against women.

The National Defence Academy exam is next scheduled to be held on September 5.