New Delhi: The Defense Ministry has finally issued the formal order to grant permanent commission to women officers in eight more branches of the Army, in accordance with the Supreme Court directive in February, which will “Empower them to shoulder larger roles” in the 13 lakhs strong force.

The Government sanctioned letter specifies that women short service commission officers will be granted PC-if found eligible by a selection board- in Army Air Defense, signals, engineers, Army Aviation, electronics and mechanical engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordinance Corps and Intelligence Corps. They are already eligible for PC in the Judge and Advocate General and Army Educational Corps branches.

In anticipation, the Army headquarters had already set in motion a series of preparatory actions for conduct of the PC selection board for eligible women officers. The board will schedule as soon as all eligible womens SSC officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation, said an Army officer on Thursday. Women number just over 1, 600 in the 43K strong officer cadre in the Army.

The Military brass for long opposed PC and Command roles for women due to operational, practical and cultural problems but had to relent after the Court directive to end gender bias in the force. Women officers, unlike their male counterparts, were not mandated to undergo the Junior Command Course and other adjunct courses as young Captains or Majors to be eligible for Command appointments till now.

Women, of course, are not allowed to join main combat arms like infantry, mechanized infantry, artillery and armoured corps in the army. They also cannot serve on board warships and submarines in the navy but the IAF, which already had women transport aircraft and helicopter pilots has commissioned eight women as fighter pilots since 2016 to break yet another glass ceiling.