The Supreme Court issued an interim order on Wednesday allowing women to sit in the National Defence Academy (NDA) admission exam slated for September 5. The Supreme Court stated that that admission will be subject to the final orders of the court.
A division bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy passed the interim order in a writ petition filed by Kush Kalra seeking permission for women candidates to appear for the NDA exam.
The UPSC is also directed to take out a suitable corrigendum notification in view of the aforesaid order and “give due publicity so that intent of the order is translated into effect”.
The apex court also lashed out at the Army for denying permission to women for taking part in NDA exams.
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Slamming Army’s submission that it’s a policy decision, the top court said that the policy decision was based on “gender discrimination”.
As per the petitioner, the eligible female candidates have been denied the opportunity to join the National Defence Academy on the basis of their sex, which later becomes a hurdle in the career advancement opportunities for female officers.
Candidates will be selected on the basis of their performance in written examination to be conducted by the Commission followed by intelligence and personality test by the Services Selection Board of candidates who qualify in the written examination.
The written examination will be held for two subjects – Mathematics and General Ability Test. Both papers will be of two and half hours. Mathematics paper will be of 300 marks and General Ability Test will be of 600 marks.
NDA II 2021 exam will be conducted on November 14. Earlier, the exam was scheduled to be conducted on September 5, 2021. However, after reviewing the prevailing situation due to COVID-19, UPSC had taken the decision to postponed NDA (II) 2021 exam. NDA II 2021 application form was available from June 9 to 29. NDA II admit card is expected to be released in the last week of October.
Earlier this month, on august 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that all Sainik Schools in the country will now be open for girls also.
For details on UPSC NDA exam, please visit the official website- upsc.gov.in.
(With inputs from ANI)
