The Centre has justified in the Supreme Court its decision to prohibit Muslim personnel working in the Indian Air Force (IAF) from sporting a beard and asserted that it does not in any manner infringe upon their fundamental rights.
"The order was issued in the interest of cohesiveness in a combatant force like the IAF and also keeping in view the security implications.
"These policies are secular in character and have not been framed to govern the conduct of Air Force personnel to any particular religion," the Centre said in response to a notice issued by the apex court in September last year.
The apex court had issued the notice to the Centre on the petition of a personnel Mohd Zubair who had challenged the IAF authorities "confidential order" dated February 24 2003, prohibiting Muslim personnel from sporting beards.
Seeking dismissal of the petition, the Centre contended that the aim of the restriction was to ensure that the personnel are identified by the nature of work performed by them and not their religion.
"The Air Force, undoubtedly is a secular force having due regard for all religions," the Centre stated, maintaining that the policy instructions were issued after comprehensive deliberations.
"IAF is presently composed of about 11,000 officers and about 1.20 lakh personnel below the officers' rank. For effective and efficient functioning of such a large combatant force, it is imperative and essential that its personnel are guided by a sense of brotherhood and feeling of 'espirit de corpos' without any distinction of caste, creed, colour or religion," the Centre added.
Zubair in his petition had contended that the order was in contravention of fundamental fights of the citizen and also a Government letter issued through the Ministry of Home on July 18,1990.
The said letter of the home minister permitted the uniformed Muslim/Sikh personnel to sport beards on religious ground, provided prior permission was sought from the authorities, he said.
But by the confidential letter of February 24, 2003 even this concession of sporting beard, through prior permission, was withdrawn and Zubair was also asked to shave off his beard.
Zubair challenged the IAF order by way of a writ petition in the Delhi High Court and a single judge citing certain Muslim religious texts took the view that sporting beard was not compulsory and hence dismissed his plea.
The petitioner approached a division bench which concurred with the order of the single judge and dismissed his plea following which he appealed in the apex court.
In his SLP before the Supreme Court, Zubair cited earlier rulings of the Delhi High Court and the apex court in the Haider Ali case wherein the courts had held that Muslim personnel can be permitted to keep beard on religious grounds.
Similarly, the petition cited the ruling of a Punjab & Haryana High Court ruling in the Satpal Khan case in which the court had ordered reinstatement of an employee who was sacked by the authorities for sporting a beard.
