Supreme Court has asked Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman to assist it in the hearing on a petition seeking abolition of caste, region and religion-based recruitment in the Indian Army.
The apex court bench of Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Dipak Misra while not issuing notice on the petition of I.S. Yadav asked his senior counsel S. Balakrishnan to serve the plea on the solicitor general who would assist the court.
The petitioner sought a court direction that there should be no discrimination in the recruitment of soldiers so that the army could become a monolithic force as was the case with the air force and the navy.
The petition said there were 22 army regiments which were based on caste, region and religion. He said some regiments used in their names words like Punjab, Madras, Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Maratha, Rajputana, Jat, Sikh, Dogra, Garhwal, Ladakh, Mahar, Kumaon and Naga.
The petition said that different units of the cavalry too were based on caste, region and religion.
President’s Bodyguard, a cavalry regiment, was an example of gross injustice done through caste or class or region-based recruitment.
“In the regiment of President’s Bodyguard only those from three castes, namely Hindu Rajputs, Hindu Jats and Jat Sikhs can be enrolled,” the petition said.
The petitioner said the army provided employment to around 15 lakh people and one-fourth of its personnel retired every year and fresh recruits stepped into their shoes.
“Such a large source of employment and opportunity to serve the motherland should not be kept as the pocket privilege for the captive consumption of any particular caste, class, community, region or religion,” said the petition.
The petitioner said recruitment based on caste or class or region was “open to judicial scrutiny”.