The Supreme Court criticized the Center for adopting a “patriarchal” stance on women’s permanent commission in the Coast Guard and questioned why the force should differ given that the Army and Navy have already adopted the same policy.
Chief Justice DY Chandrachud led a bench that declared that women could safeguard the coasts just as well as the borders, adding that the government’s constant talk of “women power” needed to be matched by concrete action.

Hearing a petition by a woman Coast Guard short service appointment officer, Priyanka Tyagi, on Monday, the Chief Justice said, “You (the Union government) speak of Nari Shakti, Nari Shakti, now show it here. I don’t think the Coast Guard can say that they can be out of bounds when the Army, Navy have done it. Why are you so patriarchal that you do not want to see women in the Coast Guard sector? Why do you have an indifferent attitude towards the Coast Guard.”

The court ordered in the 2020 ruling that permanent commissions for female officers in the Army be given. The government’s defense of “physiological limitations and social norms” had been rejected, with the statement that it violated equality and was blatantly biased against women.

Senior Advocate Archana Pathak Dave made an argument on behalf of Ms. Tyagi, citing the fundamental right to equality and arguing that women employees in the Coast Guard should be given the same opportunities for advancement as men in the Army, including the chance to become commissioned officers.