Agnipath recruitment scheme: The Supreme Court will hear pleas challenging the Centre's Agnipath recruitment scheme next week, the top court said on Monday. The scheme was introduced for recruitment in the armed forces. A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari said that petitions will be listed next week before an appropriate bench upon reopening the apex court after summer vacation.
Last month, the government announced the Agnipath scheme, under which youths between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted into the armed forces for a four-year tenure, while 25 per cent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service.
On June 16, the government increased the upper age limit for recruitment under the scheme to 23 years from 21 for the year 2022, and subsequently announced a slew of placatory steps such as a preference for Agniveers in central paramilitary forces and defence public sector undertakings upon their retirement.
Protests broke out across parts of India after the scheme was introduced by the Centre. Most recently, the Congress' youth wing staged a protest on Saturday demanding the rollback of the Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment of soldiers.
(With PTI Inputs)
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