‘We gave girls hope’: SC refuses to change order allowing women to appear for NDA exam this year

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to change its interim order allowing women to appear for the National Defence Academy examination from this year, reported Live Law.

The Union Ministry of Defence had requested the court to hold off admissions in the current academic year, citing the need for “policy, procedure, training and infrastructure changes”. The Centre had said that the examination could be held from May next year.

“The armed forces deal with emergencies,” the court observed on Wednesday. “So I do not believe that armed forces response team will not be able to deal with the scenario.”

The Supreme Court said that it “gave hope to the girls” and therefore could deny them now, reported NDTV.

In August, the court had allowed women candidates to appear for the interim examination for induction into the academy. The results of the examination would, however, be subject to the final verdict on the matter. This year’s examination is scheduled to be held on November 14.

The defence ministry had said that prior experience from other pre-commissioning training academies suggested that “robust physical separation” of residential quarters of men and women candidates was needed before women are inducted into the academy. This process would include increasing bathroom and medical aid facilities, the defence ministry had said.

The ministry had added that it would…

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