SC to hear plea challenging Agnipath scheme next week

The petitioners argued that the tenure of aspirants will come down to 4 years from 20 years saying that the career of thousands of students is at stake and the recent advertisement notification for Agnipath "means cancellation when they were actually waiting for their appointment letters".

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that it would hear next week's pleas challenging the Centre's 'Agnipath' scheme for recruitment in the armed forces. A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari said that petitions will be listed next week before an appropriate bench upon reopening the apex court after summer vacation.

The petitioners argued that the tenure of aspirants will come down to 4 years from 20 years saying that the career of thousands of students is at stake and the recent advertisement notification for Agnipath "means cancellation when they were actually waiting for their appointment letters". "Since 2017 more than 70,000 persons....they completed everything, they were assured that they will be issued a letter and now this scheme," argued advocate ML Sharma.

Last month, the government announced the Agnipath scheme, under which youths between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted into the armed forces for a four-year tenure, while 25 percent of them will be subsequently inducted for regular service.