The Supreme Court of India. (Photo credit: PTI File)

The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred a bunch of Public Interest Litigations against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme to the Delhi High Court. It also directed Kerala, Punjab & Haryana, Patna and Uttarakhand High Courts to transfer any related PILs they may have admitted to the Delhi High Court or keep it pending till a decision from the Delhi High Court, if the petitioners before it so desire.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and AS Bopanna also asked the Delhi High Court to hear the matter expeditiously.

The bench said petitioners before the four high courts can also opt to intervene in the proceedings before the Delhi High Court.

The top court said it is transferring the pleas as it would be appropriate if it has the benefit of the Delhi High Court's considered view on them.

It asked the Delhi High Court to consider all the transferred PILs along with the pleas which are already pending before it expeditiously on this issue.

This came as the Delhi High Court is already considering several petitions opposing the scheme. In fact, it is due to resume hearing in a related matter tomorrow (June 20).

This hearing will be on an 'early hearing application' filed in a pending petition which challenges the Indian Navy's employment advertisement reserving its right for shortlisting applicants by increasing the cut-off marks obtained by them in class 12th examination, claiming that it was contrary to the already laid down eligibility criteria in the advertisement after their applications were received for recruitment as Person Below Officer Rank (PBOR) in the force.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that similar matters challenging the Agnipath scheme are already pending before the High Court and that they be heard together.

Mehta said the issues in these petitions are interconnected with Agnipath Scheme and if the court permits, they can be heard together.

"Solicitor General has informed the court that there are some other issues touching the subject matter of the present petition. The office is directed to list them (other petitions) along with the present petition on July 20," the bench said.

At the end of the hearing, the chief justice orally observed, "that's the organisation where the most transparent process is adopted. Don't point fingers at them. This is very unfortunate…" Initially, the court asked how a PIL was maintainable in a service matter.

The petitioner, through advocate Ankur Chhibber, sought quashing of the advertisement issued by the authorities in the employment news in October last year, to the extent whereby the Indian Navy has reserved its right for shortlisting the applicants even before the written examination and taking away the chance of eligible citizens to even participate in the selection process.

The petition also sought to direct the authorities to consider all candidates, who are fulfilling the eligibility criteria laid down in the advertisement, to take part in the selection process by issuing admit cards to them for the post they have applied for.

A petition seeking to complete the recruitment process in the Indian Air Force as per a 2019 notification without being affected by the Centre's Agnipath Scheme is also pending in the high court and is now scheduled to come up for hearing on July 20.

The Agnipath scheme, announced on June 14, provides for the recruitment of youth between the age of 17-and-a-half and 21 years for only four years with a provision to retain 25 per cent of them for 15 more years. Protests had erupted in several states against the scheme.

Later, the government extended the upper age limit to 23 years for recruitment this year.

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