As the women officers made this plea, the court asked them not to club the challenge to their release order with the plea for promotion and file a separate petition on this. As the counsel Meenakshi Lekhi appearing for the women officers seeking permanent commissioning in the army told the apex court bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice H.L. Gokhale that though their services were restored after the court's order, they were not being considered for promotion.

Meenakshi Lekhi told the court that this was happening when these officers were meeting all the criterion for promotion to next rank. She told the court that these women officers were being made to work under officers junior to them. She said this was against the very essence of the command structure of the armed forces. The court observed that this issue was separate from the one it was dealing with and the petitioner will have to move separately for this.