Supreme Court upholds validity of Agnipath scheme, says it is not arbitrary

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two pleas challenging a Delhi High Court judgment that upheld the Centre's Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the armed forces.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said candidates, who earlier got selected through recruitment processes like rallies, physical and medical tests for defence forces before the introduction of the Agnipath scheme, do not have a vested right to appointment.

"Sorry, we would not like to interfere with the high court verdict. The high court had dealt with all the aspects", it said, while dismissing separate pleas filed by Gopal Krishan and advocate ML Sharma against the high court verdict.

The bench, however, posted a third fresh plea related to recruitment in the Indian Air Force (IAF) prior to the launch of the Agnipath scheme for hearing on April 17.

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It asked the Centre to file its response to the third plea related to recruitment in the IAF. On March 27, the top court had agreed to hear pleas filed against the Delhi High Court judgment that upheld the Centre's scheme for recruitment into the armed forces. The high court had on February 27 said the Agnipath scheme was formulated in national interest with a laudable objective of maintaining national security.