NEW DELHI: After demolishing the gender barrier and directing entry of women aspirants in the National Defence Academy (NDA) which was earlier allowed only for men, the Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea for letting women compete with men for admission for all seats without putting restrictions on the number of women to be enrolled.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh on Tuesday sought response from the Centre after the court was informed that only 19 out of 400 seats were allotted to women candidates last year and in the current year too, same number of women will be given admission.
The court said limited seats were allotted for women candidates last year as there was no infrastructure to cater to the needs of women candidates on the campus. As the government has assured the court to increase the intake of women candidates in a phased manner, the court sought explanation from additional solicitor general Aishwayra Bahti who was appearing for the Centre.
Bhati said the intake of women candidates is not linked with infrastructure issues and it depends on requirement of the force. She agreed to file an affidavit giving explanation to the court. The court issued notice to the Centre granting it three weeks’ time to give explanation on the “restricted” entry of women candidates in NDA.