Court has asked the Center to pay compensation of Rs 60 lakh to the dismissed nurse.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court has said that terminating a woman’s job on the basis of marriage is a “gross case of gender discrimination” and any law based on gender bias is “constitutionally unacceptable”, and asked the Center to pay Rs 60 lakh to an army Ordered to pay the dues. The nurse who was fired from her job after marriage.
A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta passed the order on the request of Celina John, who was dismissed from service after her marriage in 1988. At that time, she held the rank of Lieutenant. He had approached the Armed Forces Tribunal in 2012, which ruled in his favor and ordered that he be reinstated. However, in 2019, the Center appealed against the order in the Supreme Court.
In its February 14 order, the bench said there was no need for any interference in the tribunal’s decision. The court noted that a rule introduced in 1977, which allowed dismissal from the military nursing service on the basis of marriage, was withdrawn in 1995.
“Such a rule was clearly arbitrary, as terminating a woman’s employment due to her marriage is a gross case of gender discrimination and inequality. Accepting such a patriarchal rule undermines human dignity, the right to non-discrimination and fair treatment. “Gender-based bias based on laws and regulations is constitutionally unacceptable. Rules making marriage of women employees and their domestic partnerships a basis for depriving them of eligibility would be unconstitutional,” the bench said in the order.
However, the bench modified the tribunal’s decision to reinstate the employee and provide him with the outstanding salary. Instead he asked the Center to give Rs 60 lakh as compensation. The bench also noted that Alzon had worked as a nurse in a private organization for a short period. The court said the compensation should be paid to the Center within eight weeks of receiving the order.
