The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred the petitions challenging the Agnipath recruitment scheme filed before it to the Delhi High Court, stating that the High Court was dealing with similar petitions.
The Central scheme related to recruitment in defence forces was challenged before both the Apex Court and the High Court.
However, a caveat was filed by the Central government in June itself, seeking a hearing before the top court of the country, taking any action against the scheme.
A bench comprising Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.S. Bopanna directed the Registrar General to take these matters to the Delhi High Court.
Besides, the Apex Court directed the High Courts of Kerala, Punjab & Haryana, Patna and Uttarakhand, to bring the PILs filed against Agnipath to the Delhi High Court.
On July 4, Advocate Kumud Lata had sought an urgent hearing on the plea of Harsh Ajay Singh. At the same time, another petitioner ML Sharma had raised questions on the legality of Agnipath recruitment scheme.
Agnipath was introduced on June 14, 2022 by the Government of India, for recruitment of soldiers below the rank of commissioned officers into the Indian Army.
All recruits will be hired only for a four- year period. The personnel recruited under this system will be called Agniveers, a new military rank.
The introduction of the scheme has been criticised for lack of consultation and public debate. The scheme is scheduled to be implemented from September, 2022.
Violent protests had erupted across the country on June 16, as the army aspirants, who were angry with the new scheme, called for its rollback and damaged public property. The protesters set afire 12 trains and affected the movement of 300 trains on June 17. This led to cancellation of 214 trains, diversion of 12 and short-termination of 90 trains.