Supreme Court grants pension relief to women SSC officers in defence forces

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of India has granted pension benefits to women Short Service Commission (SSC) officers of the Army, Navy, and Air Force who were released after completing 14 years of service. The ruling comes as a significant relief to women officers who were denied Permanent Commission (PC) under existing policies.

New rules on animal testing must take India forward, not backwards: Maneka Gandhi Officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Updated on: Oct 26, 2026, 14:54:47 IST By Jasjeev Gandhiok Prefer HTPrefer HT Prefer HT on Google Share The Centre’s draft rules governing animal experimentation have triggered concerns among animal rights groups, which say the changes could weaken independent oversight and make it easier for laboratories to conduct experiments on animals. However, officials maintain the changes seek to simplify approvals for research institutions, pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. Former Union minister Maneka Gandhi. HT speaks to animal rights activist and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, a long-time campaigner against animal experimentation. Edited excerpts: A major change to animal experimentation, proposed in the draft, is that mild and moderate experiments could be approved by an institution’s own ethics committee rather than going to the central regulator. In practical terms, what does this change mean for an animal inside a laboratory? Does it make it easier for more animals to be experimented on? It means the animal loses the one independent pair of eyes that was looking at its fate. Today, experiments on animals larger than a rat go to the central regulator, and there is at least someone outside the building asking whether this experiment is necessary at all. Under the draft, the people who want to do the experiment, their colleagues and their department heads will be the ones approving it. And it is the institution itself, through its own veterinarian, that decides whether the experiment is mild or moderate in the first place. No institution has ever turned down its own funding. So yes, it will make it easier, and it will make it faster, and that means more animals. Mild and moderate are also the bulk of experiments, so we are effectively handing over most of animal experimentation in India to self regulation. The draft classifies experiments as mild, moderate, severe and non-recovery. Is there a concern that the institution conducting the research will effectively decide how severe the experiment is. Does this leave a grey area? It isn’t grey, it is completely black. Under this draft, the institution that wants to do the experiment is also the one that decides which category it falls into. That decision matters enormously, because if the experiment is classified as mild or moderate, the institution’s own committee approves it and it never goes to the central regulator. Only severe and non-recovery experiments on larger animals go outside. So the same people who want the experiment approved are deciding whether anyone independent will ever examine it. That is a clear conflict of interest, and it will push experiments towards the lower categories. Starving a rat for a day is called mild. Keeping a social animal alone in a cage is mild. Starving it for two days, or putting it through distress it cannot escape, is moderate. So is testing herbal products, testing established drugs, and anything described as having “known and reversible effects,” which could mean almost anything. This is not a scientific list. It is the most common commercial work. The draft also creates exceptions and allows laboratories to use animals from open markets, unregistered sources, and in certain circumstances, stray, feral, wild and protected animals. What is the biggest risk that this may create for animals in practice? Could community dogs, lost pets or animals taken from the wild find their way into laboratories? The biggest risk is that nobody will know where an animal came from. The whole point of registered breeders was traceability. Once you allow open markets and unregistered sources for cattle, goats, birds and fish, you create a demand, and in this country demand is met very quickly by people who will pick up anything. Strays and wild animals can be used if a “competent authority” permits it, and the draft never says who that is. Community dogs, someone’s lost pet, birds from illegal markets, all of it can find its way into a laboratory. These exceptions should be removed completely. If a lab cannot get an animal from a registered source, it should not be doing that experiment. The draft formally incorporates the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement, but critics say these safeguards become weaker if institutions themselves are approving experiments. Do you believe India should now be moving towards replacing animal experiments altogether, particularly when the health ministry has already allowed certain drug testing through non-animal methods? What should the rules do differently? Yes, and we are not starting from zero. The health ministry has already amended the drug rules to accept non-animal methods. The world is moving this way because these methods are often more predictive for humans than a mouse ever was. Writing replacement, reduction and refinement into the rules means nothing if the person checking compliance is the institution itself. The rules should make it mandatory to show that no validated alternative exists before an animal is used, set up a national body to validate and promote alternatives, put money into them, and set timelines to phase out animal use in areas where alternatives are already available. A rule that only mentions replacement as a principle is decoration. You have worked on animal experimentation regulation for decades. What specific changes would you want the government to make to this draft? I don’t think this draft can be fixed. There is hardly a provision in it that doesn’t need changing, and when everything needs to change, it is better to start again. So the draft should be put aside and written afresh, this time with independent scientists, animal welfare organisations and legal experts at the table. The new rules must take India forward, not backwards. Animals already have certain protections under the law which cannot be taken away. New should be building on them.

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Under current service rules, defence personnel must complete a minimum of 20 years to qualify for pension. However, invoking its extraordinary constitutional powers, the court has allowed a one-time relaxation, deeming eligible women SSC officers to have completed the required 20 years of service for pension purposes.

The bench ruled that officers who were considered for Permanent Commission but were not granted it will now be treated as having fulfilled the service requirement. This ensures they receive pension and other related benefits, addressing long-standing grievances over career progression and financial security.

The judgment follows petitions filed by women officers of the Indian Air Force, including Wing Commander Sucheta Edan, who challenged the denial of Permanent Commission after policy changes introduced in 2019. The court identified significant flaws in the implementation of the 2019 Human Resource Policy.

According to the ruling, performance benchmarks introduced under the policy were applied unfairly, without giving officers sufficient time to adjust. Many of these officers, inducted under SSC in 2007, were evaluated for Permanent Commission during selection boards held in 2019, 2020, and 2021. However, they were released from service in 2021 without adequate opportunity to meet the revised criteria.

The court also criticized the use of “service length” as a negative factor in assessing suitability for Permanent Commission, noting that these officers had not been given a fair chance at career advancement.

Importantly, the ruling clarifies that all SSC officers who appeared before the selection boards in 2019, 2020, and 2021 will be eligible for pension benefits—even those declared ineligible at the time. However, the court specified that no arrears of pay will be granted.

The pension will be calculated based on the deemed completion of 20 years of service and will come into effect from November 1, 2025.

Additionally, women officers who are still in service will be considered for Permanent Commission, subject to performance grades, medical fitness, vigilance status, and disciplinary clearance.

This judgment marks a crucial step toward gender parity in the armed forces, reinforcing the principle of fairness and equal opportunity in military careers.