After the Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred various pleas related to the Agnipath Scheme to the Delhi High Court, the Delhi HC on Wednesday fixed the date for August 25, 2022, to hear all the petitions challenging the Agnipath Scheme.
The Bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad on Wednesday said, “Following the SC direction issued to the Delhi HC, we will examine all the related matters on August 25, 2022.” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Wednesday appeared for the Centre, apprised the Delhi High Court about the SC direction issues yesterday and read out the related order.
The Supreme Court also clarified that as regards to other similar petitions challenging the Agnipath Scheme pending in other various High Courts, the concerned HCs should either give an option to the petitioners to either have their petitions transferred to the Delhi HC or to keep their petitions pending with liberty to intervene in the Delhi HC.
The top court also requested the Delhi HC to take up the matter and dispose of it expeditiously. The court on Tuesday noted a consolidated chart of HC cases presented by SG Tushar Mehta. The High Courts of Delhi, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana, Patna, and Uttarakhand are hearing matters connected to the scheme.
The SC directions come after hearing advocates Kumud Lata Das and M L Sharma for petitioners and SG Tushar Mehta for respondents. The Central government had also filed a caveat application in the Supreme Court urging it to hear the government in the petitions filed before the top court challenging the Agnipath recruitment scheme for defence forces.
Advocate Harsh Ajay Singh has filed a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to reconsider its Agnipath recruitment scheme for the armed forces. The plea said the announcement of the scheme has caused nationwide protests in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and various other states due to the short-term duration of the scheme in the Indian Army for four years coupled with future uncertainties of the trained ‘Agniveers’.
The advocate has also sought a stay in the implementation of the scheme from June 24, 2022. The PIL seeks quashing of the Centre’s notification for the Agnipath scheme, saying the scheme 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.