Supreme Court’s big decision: Sexual reservation on JAG posts of Army is over, now recruitment will be done by joint merit

New Delhi,

The Supreme Court on Monday canceled the Indian Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) posts, reservation for men and the policy of setting limited seats for women unconstitutional. The court said that this policy is “arbitrary” and violates the right to equality of the Constitution.

A division bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Manmohan directed the central government to prepare a joint qualification list for all candidates (men and women) from now on, in which the marks of each candidate should also be made public.

Court remarks
The bench said, “Executive cannot reserve seats for men. Six seats for men and three seats for women are like giving reservation in the name of recruitment.

Background of case
The case is related to two women petitioners, who challenged the provision of fixing six posts for men and three posts in 2023 JAG recruitment notification. Both of them had finished fourth and fifth respectively, but could not be selected due to fewer women seats.

In August 2023, the Supreme Court directed to keep two posts vacant and reserved its verdict after the completion of the hearing in May 2025. The court ordered the first petitioner Arnsur Kaur to be immediately included in the next training course as a JAG officer, while the second petitioner said that she is now working in the Indian Navy and can continue the work there if he wants.

Case of discrimination based on marks
The court found that the petitioner No. 1 scored 447 marks, which was more than 433 points of the male candidate number 3, but still not selected. The defendant number 3 was third in the men’s merit list, while the candidate who finished tenth in the female merit list was also more than that. The court considered it “indirect discrimination” and clarified that this decision is not to impose any bias in the army but to implement the Constitution.

Question on government’s argument
The central government said that JAG posts are genderly neutral and the selection ratio from 2023 has been reduced to 50:50. The court raised the question on this – “Why were less seats for women when the posts are neutral?” Justice Manmohan said that if 10 women qualify for JAG and they are better than male candidates, everyone should be selected. The court also dismissed the Center’s argument that there would be a threat to making women JAG officials as a fighter on international borders.

Importance of decisions
This decision is an important step towards making the recruitment process in the army fully qualified. Now while recruiting in JAG, there will be no division of gender -based seats and selection will be done only on merit basis. Also, the joint qualification list and marks of all the candidates will be made public.