Following the Supreme Court’s transfer of numerous Agnipath Scheme-related challenges to the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, the Delhi HC set August 25, 2022 as the date for hearing all applications challenging the scheme.
On Wednesday, the Bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad stated that, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directive to the Delhi High Court, we shall review all linked matters on August 25, 2022. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the Centre on Wednesday, informing the Delhi High Court about the SC directive problems raised yesterday and reading out the associated decision.
The Supreme Court also clarified that in the case of other similar petitions challenging the Agnipath Scheme that are pending in other High Courts, the concerned HCs should either give the petitioners the option of having their petitions transferred to the Delhi HC or keep their petitions pending with the option for petitioners to intervene in the Delhi HC.
The Supreme Court also asked the Delhi High Court to take up the case and resolve it as soon as possible. The court took note of a combined chart of HC cases given by SG Tushar Mehta on Tuesday. The plan is being heard in the high courts of Delhi, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, Patna, and Uttarakhand.
The Supreme Court issued its ruling after hearing from attorneys Kumud Lata Das and M L Sharma for the petitioners and SG Tushar Mehta for the respondents.
The Central Government has filed a caveat plea before the Supreme Court, seeking it to consider the government’s cases challenging the Agnipath recruiting programme for the armed services.
Advocate Harsh Ajay Singh has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) asking the Centre to review its Agnipath recruiting plan for the armed forces.
According to the petition, the introduction of the plan sparked widespread demonstrations in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, and other states due to the scheme’s four-year length in the Indian Army and the future uncertainty of the trained ‘Agniveers.’
The lawyer has also requested that the programme be postponed until June 24, 2022.
Advocate ML Sharma has filed a PIL, claiming that the Centre’s notification for the Agnipath plan is “illegal and unconstitutional.”
The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agnipath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.
Agnipath allows patriotic and motivated youth to serve in the Armed Forces for a period of four years. The Agnipath Scheme has been designed to enable a youthful profile of the Armed Forces.
