NEW DELHI: In a big boost for military nursing service (MNS) personnel, the Union govt has amended rules and placed them under the ambit of re-employment provisions, providing them the same benefits as other veterans of the armed forces.The notification of Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Central Civil Services & Posts) Amendment Rules 2026 under Article 309 of the Constitution, which came into effect on Feb 9, will boost rehabilitation and second-career opportunities for MNS personnel.Significantly, the rule change has come after the Supreme Court’s verdict last April wherein it had said that MNS personnel were entitled to “ex-servicemen” status for re-employment and that MNS was an integral part of the military and armed forces.The govt’s move will remove the earlier ambiguity regarding MNS personnel, who are commissioned officers. “The key change has revised Rule 2(c)(i) to clearly include the personnel who have served in any rank, whether combatant or non-combatant, in the Regular Army, Navy or Air Force, as well as the MNS of the Indian Union within the definition framework for ex-servicemen re-employment in the central civil services,” the defence ministry said on Monday. This amendment formally grants MNS personnel access to “reservation quotas: 10% in Group ‘C’ and 20% in Group ‘D’ central govt posts. Age relaxation: The ability to deduct the years of military service plus three years from their actual age for civil job eligibility,” the ministry said. Under rule 2, clause (c) amendment, the definition of ‘ex-servicemen’ now explicitly lists ‘Military Nursing Service of the Indian Union alongside Regular Army, Navy, and Air Force, it said.On April 17, last year, a Supreme Court division bench, comprising Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra, had passed the aforementioned order while upholding the ruling of a division bench of Punjab and Haryana High Court in Feb 2024.The matter came under judicial scrutiny following a petition filed by Captain Gurpreet Kaur of MNS, who had cleared the examination for Punjab Civil Services in 2021, but her candidature was rejected on the ground that she was not an “ESM (ex-servicemen)”. She had then approached the HC, pointing out that MNS was an “Armed Force of the Union” under the statute and that the Punjab ESM rules covered short service officers released on completion of terms of engagement with gratuity under the definition of ESM.
