New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred three petitions before it challenging the Agnipath scheme to the Delhi High Court, reported Live Law.
Two of the petitions before the Supreme Court are public interest litigations while the third has been filed by a group of 31 Air Force aspirants demanding that the scheme should not be made applicable to those who are already undergoing the selection process in the armed forces.
Petitions have also been filed in the High Courts in Delhi, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, Patna and Uttarakhand, according to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, reported Bar and Bench.
The Agnipath scheme was announced by the government in June. Under this scheme, citizens aged between 17-and-a-half and 21 years are eligible to apply for a four-year service in the military. Of these recruits, 25% will be eligible to apply as regular personnel after they complete their four-year service.
Aspirants for posts in the armed forces have been protesting against the scheme. They are demanding permanent recruitment under the regular process along with pension and other retirement benefits that are not part of the scheme.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the court also refused to transfer the cases pending before the High Courts to itself.
“This would deprive this court of the considered view of the [Delhi] High Court on various aspects of the validity of the scheme and its implementation which are being raised in several High Courts,” said a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, AS Bopanna and Surya Kant.
The bench also directed the High Courts to give the petitioners before them the option to either transfer their pleas to the Delhi High Court or keep them pending. If the pleas are kept pending, the petitioners should have the liberty to intervene in the Delhi High Court, the judges said.
The Supreme Court also requested the Delhi High Court to expedite the matter.
Courtesy: Scroll. In
