Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Next Week Pleas Challenging Centre's 'Agnipath' Scheme

The Supreme Court will hear the petitions filed against the 'Agnipath' recruitment scheme next week. An appropriate bench will hear the matter upon reopening of the apex court after summer vacation.

Supreme Court of India | Youth Congress workers stage a protest against the Centre's Agnipath scheme, in Jammu, Saturday, July 2, 2022.

Source : PTI

New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would hear pleas challenging the Union government 'Agnipath' scheme next week. A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari said that petitions against the recruitment scheme will be listed next week before an appropriate bench upon reopening of the apex court after summer vacation, news agency PTI reported. Last month, the government announced the Agnipath scheme, under which youths between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted into the armed forces for a four-year tenure, while 25 per cent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service. 

Notably, the Union government on June 21 filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court urging it to hear the government in the petitions filed before it challenging the 'Agnipath' recruitment scheme for defence forces.

A Caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against him or her without being heard.

As per news agency ANI, Advocate ML Sharma had filed the PIL seeking quashing of the Centre's notification for the Agnipath Scheme saying that the scheme was "illegal and unconstitutional".

"Quash the notification/ press note dated June 14, issued by the Defense Ministry being illegal, unconstitutional and void ab-initio and ultra vires to the Constitution of India in the interest of justice," the PIL stated.

Pleas Challenging Agnipath Recruitment Scheme

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• The Union government filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court urging it to hear the government in the petitions.
• Advocate ML Sharma had filed the PIL seeking quashing of the Centre's notification for the Agnipath scheme.
• Advocate Harsh Ajay Singh also filed a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to reconsider its recruitment scheme.
• Advocate Vishal Tiwari had filed PIL for direction to set up an SIT to probe violent protests against the Agnipath scheme.

Advocate Harsh Ajay Singh also filed a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to reconsider its Agnipath recruitment scheme for armed forces. The plea mentioned that the "announcement of the scheme has caused nation-wide protest in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and various other states due to the short-term duration of the scheme in the Indian Army for four years coupled with future uncertainties of the trained 'Agniveers'."

The advocate also sought a stay on the implementation of the scheme from June 24, 2022.

Earlier, advocate Vishal Tiwari had filed PIL for direction to set up an SIT to probe the violent protest that erupted against the Agnipath Scheme and to investigate the damage caused to the public property including Railways. The petition sought directions to set up an expert committee under the chairmanship of a retired Supreme Court judge to examine the Agnipath Scheme and its impact on national security and the Indian Army, ANI reported.

Tiwari's petition sought to bring the Court's attention to the 'devastating condition' of the country resulting from the Agnipath scheme launched by the Centre through its Ministry of Defence.

Protests erupted in several states after the Centre unveiled the Agnipath scheme. Under the scheme, people between 17.5 and 21 years will be recruited into the armed forces for a four-year period, followed by compulsory retirement for most without gratuity and pension benefits.

The government has extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment in 2022.