Supreme Court to take up pleas against Agnipath next week

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 4

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear petitions challenging the Centre’s Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces next week.

A Vacation Bench led by Justice Indira Banerjee said the petitions would be listed next week before an appropriate bench on reopening of the court after summer vacation.

The petitioner’s counsel pointed out that Indian Air Force aspirants have undergone training and were waiting for appointment letters, but now their career would be cut short from 20 years to four years.

“This is an urgent matter…kindly list it. The careers of several aspirants are at stake,” the advocate submitted.

There were violent protests against the scheme in various parts of the country but the government decided to go ahead with it.

Advocate ML Sharma, who has filed a PIL challenging the scheme, said he wanted cancellation of the scheme as more than 70,000 aspirants waiting for their appointment letters after their training were now faced with a situation, where their career has been cut short by the scheme.

The bench listed Sharma’s plea before the appropriate bench along with other matters. Sharma alleged that the government has quashed the century-old selection process for the armed forces, which is contrary to the constitutional provisions.

Earlier, several petitions have been filed in the top court seeking a direction to set up a SIT to probe the damage to public property during violent protests against the scheme.

Petitioners sought directions to the Centre and Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Haryana, and Rajasthan governments to submit a status report on the violent protests. It also sought a direction to set up an expert committee under the chairmanship of a retired apex court judge to examine the scheme and its impact on national security and the Army.

About the scheme

• The Agnipath Scheme was announced last month, wherein youth between 17-and-a-half and 21 years will be inducted in the armed forces for four years
• 25 per cent of them will be subsequently retained for 15 more years
• Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022

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