The Hindu : National : Details sought on Flight Lieutenant's dismissal

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Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

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National

Details sought on Flight Lieutenant's dismissal

Staff Reporter

Action taken as she was overweight

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the Air Force to submit records pertaining to the dismissal of a woman Flight Lieutenant on the ground of her being overweight.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice G.S. Sistani, asked the Air Force to submit to the Court by September 18 all the details regarding the termination of the petitioner, Prerna Chaturvedi, from service in 2004.

The Bench also directed the respondent to submit to the Court the details of amendments carried out to the service rules and the medical reports of the petitioner.

Petitioner's submission

The petitioner submitted through her counsel that she was put on ground duty in 2003 on the same basis following amendments to the service rules in 2001 by which it was provided that personnel would be put on ground duty in case they put on weight beyond the permissible limit.

Amendment

However, the Air Force carried out another amendment to the service rules, which provided that personnel declared unfit for flight duty on the ground of their being overweight would be terminated from service, the petition stated.

`Gender discrimination'

The petitioner alleged that the Air Force was discriminating between the male and female personnel put on flight duty alleging that over the years as many as 35 such women had been dismissed from service on the ground of their being overweight while several male employees on the same job were continuing despite their being obese.

The petitioner had joined the Air Force in 1995 and had been assigned the job of flying Cheetah helicopter.

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