President's bodyguards can only be from three “classes” — Jat Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs. (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)THE UNION government in reply to a petition challenging the caste-based recruitment of President's Bodyguards has submitted in the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the criteria restricting it to only three “classes” — Jat Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs, is purely based on “functional requirements”.
Stating that the recruitment is carried out as per the guidelines issued by Recruitment Directorate, Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence, the government in the reply has asserted that the recruitment is done as “per class composition” and “not by the caste composition of the regiment”. While asserting that the Army does not recognise factors like caste, religion and region, the government, however, has not made clear what it means by “class composition” in the recruitment rules. “The allocation of arm/service/regiment is based on internal organisational structure on lessons of collective experience acquired,” reads the reply.
Justifying the decision to restrict the recruitment to Jat Sikhs, Jats and Rajputs, the government has said the Indian Army has “performed exceedingly well while maintaining the class composition in recruitment of presidential bodyguards and changing to All India class composition will not only affect the functioning of the PBG Presidential but will also affect the seniority…
