Defence ministry allows RIMC, RMS to admit girl students after SC directive

The decision comes after the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to take immediate steps to allow girls to take the entrance exam for admission in RIMC.

“Following the directive of the Supreme Court, Ministry of Defence (MoD) has proposed to allow girl students to be admitted to RIMC, RMS,” said the ministry in a statement.

“According to an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, there is requirement of authorising additional vacancies along with other associated infrastructure and administrative support. This is proposed to be carried out in two phases,” it added. 

The ministry went on to explain the procedure it will adopt to expand the admission limit. 

It said that for admission into RIMC in the first phase, the maximum capacity of students will be increased from 250 to 300 incrementally by inducting five girls for six months. 

“This increase can be affected with some infrastructure modification and additional staff to support the girl cadets. For this, it is submitted that girls will be allowed to take the RIMC entrance examination scheduled in June 2022 for entry into RIMC for the term starting in January 2023,” said the defence ministry. 

In phase-2, the capacity will be increased incrementally from 300 to 350 to induct 10 girls every six months. At the end of this expansion, RIMC will have 250 boys and 100 girls. 

For this, it is submitted that girls will be allowed to take the RIMC entrance examination scheduled in June 2027 for entry into RIMC for the term starting in January 2028. The RIMC is situated in Dehradun (Uttarakhand).

“The affidavit points out the requirement to create girl friendly infrastructure in the school campus to facilitate the living of girls with respect to privacy, safety and security. A Board of officers is examining the issues so that necessary girl friendly infrastructure and support staff is established,” said the ministry. 

With respect to admissions to RMS, phase 1 will include reserving 10% of the total vacancies in each school for girl candidates for entry into class 6 from the academic year 2022-23, in accordance with various reservations applicable in the RMSs.

In phase 2, 10% of the total vacancies in each school will be reserved for girl candidates for entry into classes 6 and 9 from the academic session 2023-24.

SC directive 

An SC bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul while asking the Centre to allow girls to take the entrance exam for admission this year in RIMC instead of waiting till June 2022, had directed the government to publish a modified advertisement within two days to seek applications from girls.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, told the Bench that preparations for the upcoming December 18, 2021 exam were already at an advanced stage and urged it to allow for the induction of girls into the RIMC and Rashtriya Military School (RMS) for the term beginning from January 2023 and not June 2022.

The bench, however, was not convinced with the decision of the Centre and ordered that girls will be allowed to sit in the entrance exam this year itself.

Earlier, the bench had directed the Defence Ministry to allow women candidates to sit for upcoming exams for National Defence Academy.

The apex court now posted the matter for hearing on January 2023 along with the matter relating to the induction of women into the armed forces through the NDA.