Delhi High Court seeks Centre’s response on gender disparity in Territorial Army

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) sought the Centre’s response to a plea challenging the allocation of a substantially higher number of Territorial Army officer vacancies to men as against women.

A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the government on a petition by Kush Kalra, alleging that authorities have continued to reserve 12 to 18 vacancies for male candidates while limiting women to a single vacancy in successive recruitment cycles between 2022 and 2026.

The petition has challenged the practice as unconstitutional, contending that the disproportionate allocation of vacancies effectively restricts women’s entry into the Territorial Army.

According to the plea, the practice also undermines the High Court’s 2018 judgment that paved the way for women to be commissioned into the Territorial Army and struck down the then-existing policy of recruiting only male candidates.

The 2018 judgment held that the expression “any person” under Section 6 of the Territorial Army Act, 1948, covers both men and women.

The petitioner contended that merely permitting women to apply, while restricting them to a single vacancy in each recruitment cycle, does not amount to meaningful implementation of the judgment.

“Allowing women entry into the Territorial Army was only half a measure,” the plea said, alleging that the continued allocation of 12 to 18 vacancies to men against one vacancy for women amounted to “tokenism” and perpetuated the constitutional discrimination the 2018 ruling had sought to address.

The petition has sought directions for effective implementation of the 2018 judgment and a declaration that the practice of disproportionately allocating vacancies to male candidates is unconstitutional.