Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 26

The Ministry of Defence has accepted the recommendation of an expert committee to review some of the rules concerning pregnancy of women officers during the course of their service.The five-member committee, constituted to review service conditions and suggest ways to reduce litigation, had recommended a review of certain formats issued by the Coast Guard Headquarters relating to termination of services of women officers in case of pregnancy.  Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said this recommendation “may be agreed to in principle.”The committee had observed in its report that the Coast Guard, after selection of women officers, takes an undertaking from them that they shall not get pregnant within three years of completion of training. Some other “incongruous restrictions” such as that they shall not get pregnant more than twice during their service careers, and if they do so, their services would be terminated have also been placed upon them.Pointing out that such terms of service were absolutely at odds with reality, the committee had questioned the legal validity of such rules.The committee had also observed that no such undertaking was taken from women in other services or even from women in other uniformed services. “Any such stipulation shows the entire organisation in a regressive light and should not be allowed to remain valid,” the committee had remarked.The MoD has also agreed to in principle another of the committee’s recommendations that decisions to challenge verdicts rendered by the courts in favour of women officers must be taken after consultations with all stakeholders.The committee had said any decision to file appeals should be taken at the highest level of the Defence Minister after discussions involving representatives of the defence services and by inducting on any such study panel at least one serving woman officer and one released woman veteran.