Above: A women contingent of Indian Army marching down the Rajpath during rehearsal for Republic Day Parade (file picture)/Photo: UNI

On the PIL alleging discrimination against women in the recruitment for the Territorial Army (TA), the Delhi High Court on Friday (January 5) passed the judgement and said any provision of Territorial Army Act (TAA) barring recruitment of women is ultra vires the Constitution.

In the earlier hearing, the bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar had reserved the judgement and had asked the Centre and the Army as why were the women was not deemed suitable to serve in TA.

The petitioner, Kush Kalra has sought the provisions of TAA which bans the conscription of women into the TA be either annulled or modified so as to enable both the sexes to join the organization.

In his plea, Kalra has alleged that discrimination has been meted out to women for not allowing them to serve in the TA as the TA is an association of volunteers  who get military training in order to be galvanized for the country’s defence in case of an emergency.

—India Legal Bureau