NEW DELHI, Apr 11: Naming Army regiments on the basis of caste, region and religion has nothing to do with discrimination, rather there are “historical reasons” behind it, the government told the Supreme Court today.
Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran, who has been asked to assist the apex court, told a bench of justices T S Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra that there is no question of violation of the constitutional right to equal opportunity in public employment if there are caste, religion and region-based regiments in the Army.
He also said post-independence, there has been no such discrimination in appointments to the armed forces.
Meanwhile, the bench also issued a notice to the Centre and sought its response within four weeks on a PIL seeking abolition of recruitment in the Army on the basis of caste, region and religion, claiming it was violative of the right to equal opportunity in public employment.
The court was hearing the plea of I S Yadav, a doctor hailing from Rewari in Haryana, seeking abolition of Indian Army’s recruitment criteria for its duty soldiers on the grounds of caste, region and religion.
Yadav, in his plea, has said that unlike in the Air Force and the Navy, there is “discriminatory classification” for recruitment on caste/religion/region basis and submitted that a national policy of recruitment be formed in the Army.
“At recruitment stage there cannot be caste-cum- religion-cum-region based classification. There cannot be specific recruitment on the basis of caste, region and religion to various regiments like Maratha Regiment, Rajasthan Rifles, Dogra Regiment, Jat Regiment, etc. This classification of the Army is a British legacy and is not sanctioned by any law made by Parliament,” he said.
“In the Indian Air Force and in the Indian Navy there is no such discriminatory classification of squadrons/fleets based on caste/religion/region and hence recruitment in IAF and the Navy is on all-India, all-class basis. Yet, in the Army alone there are caste/religion/region based regiments,” the petitioner said. (PTI)
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