Agniveers lower in rank to sepoys; service will not be considered part of regular service in Armed forces: Central government to Delhi High Court

The Central government told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that Agniveer is a totally different cadre and the four years that Agniveers serve with the Indian armed forces will not be counted as regular service on joining the Indian Army, Navy or Air Force..It was submitted that the once an Agniveer joins the armed forces after completion of four years, it will be counted as fresh recruitment. The government said that the rationale for this is that during their four years as an Agniveer, a person goes through the basic training and therefore if he/she then joins the army as a sepoy they will undergo a much higher level of training."In fact, there will be no sepoy who is not an Agniveer after about 10-15 years," the government said. .The submission was made by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati before a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad. The bench was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the newly introduced Agnipath scheme for entry into the armed forces. The Agnipath scheme proposes to induct youth into the Indian Army for four years. After this period, out of the selected candidates, only 25 per cent will be continued in the Indian Army while the rest will be denied jobs in the Armed Forces.The introduction of the scheme had prompted widespread protests across the country, some of which turned violent. It also led to a slew of petitions being filed in various courts..The Court today asked the ASG about the issue of equal work equal pay pointing out that if the responsibility of an Agniveer is the same as that of a sepoy, how can they be paid less for the same job. However, Bhati said that the their responsibilities are not same and that Agniveers will have to salute sepoys. The bench, therefore, asked the ASG to put the same on an affidavit. .Justice Prasad also asked the government about its plans to harness 75% of the youth who will not be inducted into the forces on completion of four years. The judge pointed out that these will be the people who will be trained in arms and jobless after four years. The ASG said that the government has plans to provide reservation to ex-Agniveers in various fields. She further said that apart from reservation, Agniveers will also be provided adequate technical expertise and provisions have been made to grant 10th and 12th class degrees to them. .Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Ankur Chibber appeared for the petitioners whose recruitment could not attain finality due to Agnipath.They argued that for over a year, the government kept telling them that their appointment letters were getting delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic and other administrative reasons. It was suddenly in a press conference that the scheme was announced, Bhushan stated. He said that many of the petitioners gave up the opportunity to get jobs in the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other paramilitary forces because they were given assurance that their recruitment letters from the army will come soon. "I am not challenging the Agnipath scheme but it is completely arbitrary and unreasonable for them to stop the recruitment," he said. .Bhushan and Chhibber also pointed out that even though the government stopped recruitment in their cases, it continued with rally recruitment at several other locations. They challenged the government's argument that the rally recruitment was done to maintain the demographic and geographical balance. .The ASG maintained that the recruitment was not halted in anticipation of Agnipath and wherever those processes could be taken to finality, they were.The bench, however, said that submission was "too vague in the air". The Court, therefore, asked Bhati to take instructions on the issue and listed the case for further hearing on Thursday. .The Central government had earlier filed a consolidated reply to the petitions, stating that Agnipath will make the forces young and recruits who exit after their tenure will prove to be nationalist, disciplined and skilled.The Modi government said that an analysis of the existing structure of 'below officer' rank divisions in the Indian Armed Forces showed that the average age of a personnel was 32 years, while globally, it was only around 26 years. The Armed Forces’ retention policy under which a jawan, sailor or airman serves between 15 to 20 years, is the main reason for it, it was submitted.The Court will hear the matter again on Wednesday..Court not expert to decide what Army wants: Delhi High court on challenge to Agnipath scheme