Following the Supreme Court direction, the Armed forces have taken the decision to allow female candidates in National Defence Academy (NDA), the Centre informed the apex court on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Centre requested the top court to exempt the women entry in this year admission process, citing the requirement of infrastructural changes.
The Centre told the Supreme Court that Army, IAF and Navy chiefs have agreed over the proposal to allow the entry of women into the NDA, Naval academies.
“It is a delight to share this…The girls will be admitted in the NDA,” Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati told the Supreme Court.
“We do hope that defence forces value the important role women are performing. We want them to take a proactive approach in gender-based roles rather than courts to intervene,” the Supreme Court said.
The top court in its verdict earlier mentioned that the policy decision is based on “gender discrimination”. The petitioner argued that the eligible female candidates have been denied the opportunity to join the National Defence Academy on the basis of their sex, which later becomes a hurdle in the career advancement opportunities for female officers.
Candidates will be selected on the basis of their performance in the written examination to be conducted by the Commission followed by an intelligence and personality test by the Services Selection Board of candidates who qualify in the written examination.
The written examination will be held for two subjects – Mathematics and General Ability Test. Both papers will be for two and half hours. Mathematics paper will be of 300 marks and General Ability Test will be of 600 marks.