Delhi HC won't stay Agnipath

New Delhi, August 25

The Delhi High Court today refused to stay the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the armed forces even as it asked the Centre to respond to petitions challenging the scheme.

“We will not stay it… If you succeed, you will get it…We will hear the matter finally,” a Bench led by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma told the petitioners while giving four weeks to the Centre to file an affidavit spelling out its stand. It asked the Centre to file an affidavit in response to the petitions challenging the Agnipath scheme and separate replies to those challenging the recruitment in Army, Navy and Air Force before introduction of the scheme.

The SC on July 19 transferred all pleas pending before it to the Delhi HC. It had also asked the HCs of Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, Patna and Uttarakhand to transfer petitions to the Delhi HC.