From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Not taking any chance at the blockade of its Agnipath scheme for lower rank recruitment in the Armed Forces, the Centre on Tuesday moved a caveat to urge the Supreme Court to hear it before passing any order on the petitions against the scheme.
A fresh petition, third on the issue, was filed in the top court on Monday by lawyer Harsh Ajay Singh, seeking stay of the Agnipath recruitment scheme announced on June 14 and a direction to the Centre to reconsider it instead of plunging the country into a chaos.
He has sought a direction for the constitution of a committee for providing inputs to the Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and also to invite suggestions, including from retired Army officers, for amendments to the scheme for providing job opportunities to 75 per cent Agniveers, post retirement.
The Agnipath scheme provides for the recruitment of youths between the age of 17.5 to 21 for four years with the provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. The upper age limit is 23 years for recruitment in 2022 in view of no recruitments done in the past three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Protests have erupted in several states against the scheme despite the government’s warning not to provide Agnipath recruitment to the protesters.
“It is respectfully submitted that the petitioner is genuinely concerned about maintenance of law and order in the country and for inviting the opinion of youths of the country whose future is at stake,” said the petition, asserting that this is a half-baked reform with multiple ramifications that should be removed through discussions.
It claimed there is a great possibility of Agniveers trained under the scheme going astray and a four-year recruitment is insufficient to inculcate the values and ethos of the young brigade of Indian armed forces.
Two petitions were earlier filed in the apex court on the issue. One
One sought a direction to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the damage to public properties, including that of the Railways, and violent protests against the Centre’s Agnipath scheme.
The plea has sought directions to the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan governments to submit a status report on the violent protests.
It has also sought a direction to set up an expert committee under the chairmanship of a retired apex court judge to examine the scheme and its impact on national security and the Army.
Another petition filed in the top court has alleged that the government has quashed the century-old selection process for the Armed forces which is contrary to the constitutional provisions and without having parliamentary approval.
The plea has sought to quash the 14 June notification/press note claiming it to be illegal and unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the plea for an SIT probe into the damage to public properties during the protests against ‘Agnipath’ will be listed for hearing after the Chief Justice of India (CJI) takes a decision in this regard.
Advocate Vishal Tiwari urged a vacation bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia to list the plea for an urgent hearing.
Referring to the practice of listing cases during vacation, the bench said, “This matter will be placed before the CJI. The CJI will take a call.”
