Certain SSC officers cannot seek PC in Coast Guard under rules: Maritime force tells SC
Coast Guard is committed to incrementally inducting more women officers, the maritime force has told the Supreme Court that the present recruitment rules related to short service commission officers specifically provide that they cannot seek permanent commission. The Indian Coast Guard has filed an affidavit in response to a plea moved by a woman officer seeking permanent commission.
Observing that women cannot be left out, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud recently asked the Centre to ensure they are granted permanent commission in the Coast Guard.
«It is submitted that the said Recruitment Rules (of ICG) specifically stipulated that women officers shall not have the option to change over to permanent entry scheme in the future, and the same was also mentioned in the appointment letter issued to the selected candidates, including the Petitioner in the present case,» said the affidavit filed by ICG Deputy Inspector General Raj Kamal Sinha.
The affidavit said, «The Coast Guard is committed to incrementally induct more women officers, however, the Indian Coast Guard is primarily a sea going service with 66% billets sanctioned for manning afloat units and only 33% billets sanctioned for manning shore support units.»
Due to limited availability of shore billets, a Coast Guard officer has prolonged sea tenure during his career and hence, only 10 per cent appointments were considered for women officers for permanent entry, as at that time it was considered that the ships were not designed to factor in
