'Ex-servicemen' tag for former SSC officers of nursing service

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that short-service commission officers of the Military Nursing Service (MNS) are entitled to the status of ex-service personnel, making them automatically eligible for hiring under the Punjab Recruitment of Ex-Servicemen (ESM) Rules, 1982.

A division bench of Justices Ritu Bahri and Amand Chaudhary passed the order while allowing an appeal by Capt Gurpreet Kaur of Patiala, challenging a single-judge bench's May 2022 order rejecting her plea for "ESM" status.

Although it is applicable to both genders, the rule book retains the term "ex-servicemen".

Justice Bahri, who was acting chief justice when she and her fellow judge gave the Feb 3 verdict, took over as the Uttarakhand high court's first woman CJ on Sunday.

Gurpreet moved court after the Punjab Public Service Commission refused to accept her candidature for the state civil services examination under the ESM quota because she was a short-service commission officer of MNS. She had received a short-service commission for five years starting Sept 5, 2013. On her discharge from service on Sept 4, 2018, Army issued an identity card mentioning her as an "ESM".

Gurpreet's plea contended that per the provisions of the Military Nursing Service (India) Ordinance, 1943, all staff were part of the armed forces of the Union and, hence, eligible for ESM status at the end of their stints.

The Punjab govt argued that the petitioner wasn't part of "regular Army, Navy or Air Force" service and, therefore, not covered by the definition "ESM".

Officials said MNS officers were considered eligible for ex-service personnel status in Punjab until 2019, when an officer of the Kendriya Sainik Board wrote to the authorities about why he thought they should not be treated as such.

This was despite the fact that a high-powered committee of the defence ministry clarified that MNS officers were "ex-servicemen".

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