New Delhi, August 25
The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the Agnipath Scheme for recruitment in the Armed Forces even as it asked the Centre to respond to petitions challenging the scheme.
“We will not stay it…If you succeed you will get it…We will hear the matter finally,” a Bench led by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma told the petitioners while giving four weeks to the Centre to file an affidavit spelling out its stand.
It asked the Centre to file a consolidated affidavit in response to petitions challenging the Agnipath Scheme and separate replies to those challenging the recruitment processes in the Army, Navy, and Air Force before the introduction of the scheme.
Under the Agnipath scheme announced last month, youth between 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted in the armed forces for four years and 25 per cent of them will be subsequently retained for 15 more years. Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022. There were violent protests against the scheme in various parts of the country but the government decided to go ahead with it.
The top court on July 19 transferred all the pleas pending before it against the scheme to the Delhi High Court.
The top court had also asked the high courts of Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, Patna and Uttarakhand to transfer the petitions pending before them against the scheme to the Delhi High Court or keep them pending till a decision from the Delhi High Court, if the petitioners so desired. It had said the petitioners before the four high courts could also opt to intervene in the proceedings before the Delhi High Court.
On behalf of the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said the consolidated reply was almost ready and it would be filed after vetting by the Solicitor General.
