Consider age relaxation for widowed short service officers to rejoin force: AFT

Chandigarh, May 30

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has asked the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to examine the necessity of having a policy to grant relaxation to short service commission women officers who have been widowed after their release from the service to enable them to rejoin the defence services. The age relaxation being sought would be on the same lines as that for other widows of armed forces personnel who died in harness.

Trained pool of officers

The fact remains that the officers released after 10-14 years of service are a trained pool of officers who can still contribute to the organisation if given an opportunity to re-enter the services. AFT Bench

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A 40-year-old woman Squadron Leader was commissioned into the Logistics Branch in 2003 and released from the service in 2013. She lost her husband, a fighter pilot, in an accident in 2021. They have two daughters.

In 2022, she requested the IAF to reinstate her in service considering that she had already served for 10 years. She sought that a class of widows of defence personnel like her, who had earlier served in the armed forces be granted additional relaxation in the age criterion to permit them to seek a second entry into the forces.

“The fact remains that the officers released after 10-14 years of service are a trained pool of officers who can still contribute to the organisation if given an opportunity to re-enter the services and also it is an opportunity to rehabilitate our Veer Naris,” the tribunal’s bench comprising Justice Anjana Mishra and Lt Gen PM Hariz, observed. “We are, therefore, of the considered opinion that the respondents need to examine and establish the necessity, or otherwise of a policy to cater to the class of women officers who are similarly placed,” the Bench ruled.