The Supreme Court has allowed women to take entrance exams for entry in the National Defence Academy (NDA), reports ANI. The exam is slated for September 5 and admissions etc will be subjected to the final orders of the court.

The SC also slammed Army for not allowing women to take part in NDA exams. On Army’s submission that it’s a policy decision, the top court says that this policy decision is based on “gender discrimination”.

A petition was filed by lawyer Kush Kalra, seeking equal opportunity for women at par with men to get admission at the prestigious Pune-based National Defence Academy (NDA) and Kerala-based Indian Naval Academy (INA). Presently, both these academies do not recruit women cadets.

The final hearing in this matter will be held three days after the exam- September 8, said the top court.

The SC bench said it was a mindset problem. The government better change it, “Don’t force us to pass orders,” the top court said. The bench added that the policy decision was based on gender discrimination. “We direct the respondents to take a constructive view of the matter in view of the judgement of this court.”

The NDA allows recruitment of men in the Indian Armed Forces and on an average 1,470 officers are commissioned, which includes 670 officers from Indian Military Academy (IMA) and NDA apart from Officers Training Academy (OTA) where both men and women officers are commissioned through UPSC and non-UPSC modes.

Meanwhile, 453 officers (men and women) are commissioned as Short Service Commissioned officers through SSC (Non-Technical) and SSC (Technical) through UPSC.