NEW DELHI: Demolishing the Centre’s opposition to granting permanent commission to women naval officers in all cadres as “premised on sex stereotypes”, the SC on Tuesday quashed the government’s decision to restrict it to only specified branches, stressing on the need to overcome all such discrimination.Exactly a month after SC passed a landmark verdict allowing command posting and permanent commission (PC) to women officers in Army , a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi said gender discrimination cannot be allowed in the Navy on the “illusory” ground that male officers are more suited for certain duties by virtue of their physiological characteristics.The court said engagement of women in the Navy had been lifted to the extent envisaged in the Centre’s notification of 1991 and 1998 and service of SSC officers, including women in regard to the grant of PCs is to governed by Regulation 203 which did not discriminate on the basis of gender. It brushed aside the contentions of the Centre that sailing in the Indian Navy is not a proper avocation for women and there were practical difficulties in granting PC to women officers due to various reasons, including absence of toilet facilities in certain class of ships, especially those of Russian origin.“The battle for gender equality is about confronting the battles of the mind. History is replete with examples where women have been denied their just entitlements under law and the right to fair and equal treatment in workplace. In the context of Armed Forces , specious reasons have been advanced by decision-makers and administrators. They range from physiology, motherhood and physical attributes to the male-dominated hierarchies. A hundred and one excuses are no answer to the constitutional entitlement to dignity, which attaches to every individual irrespective of gender, to fair and equal conditions of work and to a level playing field,” the bench said.The court said women officers have worked shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts and a level playing field must be ensured to allow them to overcome “histories of discrimination” based on their competence, ability and performance. It said a officer should be judged on the basis of one’s competence and dedication and not on gender.The court also set aside the Centre’s 2008 decision to deny permanent commission to serving women officers at that time by making it prospective. It directed that all the serving women officers shall be given PC on par with male officers and those who left the force because of not getting PC shall be given pensionary benefits.It also directed the Centre to grant additional compensation of Rs 25 lakh to five women officers each who won the legal battle in the Delhi HC for PC but could not be reinstated because of pendency of the case in the apex court .