UPSC NDA exam is scheduled to be held on November 14
Following the Supreme Court verdict, the Union Public Service Commission has allowed unmarried women to apply for the national defence, naval academy examinations. UPSC NDA exam is scheduled to be held on November 14.
According to the official statement, In compliance with the apex court's interim direction, the UPSC has decided to open the application on upsconline. nic. in for this exam to enable "unmarried women candidates only" who are otherwise eligible in terms of nationality, age, educational qualification etc., the statement said.
Physical standards and the number of vacancies for women candidates would be notified after it is received from the Ministry of Defence, it said. The application window will remain open for women candidates from September 24 to October 8 (till 6 PM), said the statement issued by the UPSC.
"No application will be accepted beyond the prescribed last date/time, i. e., 08. 10. 2021(till 6 PM) or through any mode other than the aforesaid online mode, it said. "Women candidates are not required to pay fee for their application for this examination," the statement said.
The Apex Court on Wednesday rejected the centre's plea to defer the first National Defence Academy (NDA) exam for women candidates, saying it doesn't want women to be denied their right. The induction of women cannot be posted by one year, it said.. A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said: "This won't send the right signal to women after having given them the aspiration. Let's begin from this year." "We cannot delay things by a year. We gave hope to the girls. We cannot deny them that hope now," said the bench.
The government earlier informed the apex court that NDA notification for the women aspirants will be released by May next year. The top court noted the submissions made by senior advocate Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, appearing on behalf of the petitioner Kush Kalra, and said that it cannot postpone the induction of women by one year. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati submitted that a study group has been formed to facilitate the entry of women, and the necessary mechanism to facilitate that can be put in place by May 2022.
The ASG sought skipping the next NDA entrance examination, scheduled to be held on November 14. "We appreciate your problems. I'm sure you people are capable of finding solutions. Let us see the results. The planning can go on... It is difficult for us to accept this submission from the Centre in view of the aspirations of the candidates willing to take the exam. "Armed services have dealt with very difficult situations. To deal with emergencies is a part of their training. We are sure that they will be able to come at par with this "emergency too". We would thus not like to vacate the order effectively passed by us," the bench also comprising Justice B R Gavai said.
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- With PTI inputs
