NDA 2021 Exam: SC asks Centre to allow women to appear on Nov 14 exam

Rejecting the Centre’s request to defer the move of allowing women candidates to appear for NDA exam until next year, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (September 22) told the Centre to include women candidates on November 14 exam. The apex court has said that it would not vacate its interim order allowing women candidates to participate in NDA 2021 exam slated to be held on November 14.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defence had suggested that NDA will be ready to welcome the first-ever batch of women cadets in January 2023 after they sit for the entrance exam in May 2022. However, SC has turned down the plea made by the Ministry of Defence to exempt women candidates from the NDA 2021 exam.

The Ministry of Defence had sought time till May 2022 to allow the women candidates to participate in the NDA exam based on the ground that certain infrastructural and curriculum changes are required to allow the induction of women.

The matter was heard by a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. It said that the admission of women candidates in NDA cannot be postponed and Armed Forces are trained to deal with emergencies. NDA exam is conducted two times a year for admission to the next year. Therefore, allowing women to take NDA exams in 2022 will mean that their admissions to NDA will take place in 2023, which is quite a long time. It cannot postpone the induction of women in NDA by one year.

The petition has been kept pending and will be heard next in January 2022 if needed. SC said that instead of allowing women to write the exam next year, the Centre should try to work out something for women candidates this year itself.

Read More:

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