India, March 25 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that short service commission women officers (SSCWO) across India's defence forces, denied permanent commission (PC) due to unfair evaluations and skewed appraisals, will receive pension benefits as a "one-time measure".

Using its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said, "As a one-time measure, the appellants SSCWOs and the intervenor SSCWOs who have been released from service during the pendency of these proceedings, whether before the armed forces tribunal (AFT), the high court, before this court, or in the interregnum, shall be deemed to have completed substantive qualifying service of 20 years and sh...