Supreme Court dismisses two pleas challenging Delhi High Court verdict upholding Centre's Agnipath scheme
The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youths between the age bracket of 17-and-a-half-years to 21 for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years in defence.
Agnipath Scheme: Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two pleas challenging the Delhi High Court verdict upholding the Agnipath scheme. Supreme Court said that the candidates who were selected in defence recruitment process before the introduction of the Agnipath scheme didn't have a vested right to appointment. The apex court, however, posted a third plea related to recruitment in IAF prior to the introduction of the Agnipath scheme for hearing on April 17.
SC dismissed two pleas
The Supreme Court dismissed two pleas challenging a Delhi High Court judgment that upheld the Centre's Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the armed forces. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said candidates, who earlier got selected through recruitment processes like rallies, physical and medical tests for defence forces before the introduction of the Agnipath scheme, do not have a vested right to appointment.
Apex court posted a third fresh plea
"Sorry, we would not like to interfere with the high court verdict. The high court had dealt with all the aspects", it said, while dismissing separate pleas filed by Gopal Krishan and advocate ML Sharma against the high court verdict. The bench, however, posted a third fresh plea related to recruitment in the Indian Air Force (IAF) prior to the launch of the Agnipath scheme for hearing on April 17.
It asked the Centre to file its response to the third plea related to recruitment in the IAF. On March 27, the top court had agreed to hear pleas filed against the Delhi High Court judgment that upheld the Centre's scheme for recruitment into the armed forces. The high court had on February 27 said the Agnipath scheme was formulated in the national interest with a laudable objective of maintaining national security.
(with inputs from PTI)
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