SC orders Indian Oil to pay ₹12L for denying woman job in 1988 ‘just because she is a lady’

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to pay ₹12 lakh compensation to a Haryana woman who was denied a job as a helper because the oil company considered the work of carrying LPG cylinders unsuitable for women.

A bench of justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi criticised the government undertaking for “disrespecting” women and said, “It is an affront to womanhood and that too by a Government of India undertaking.”

The court passed the order after noting that Sumitra, a Scheduled Caste woman from Karnal, had turned 63, well beyond the age of superannuation, and had spent more than three decades litigating her claim.

The woman had applied for a helper’s job when an LPG bottling plant opened in Karnal in 1988. She was among 49 candidates shortlisted for the post. Although she was educationally qualified and met all the requirements, she was not among the 43 candidates selected. She was later told that she had been denied employment because she was a woman.

IOC, in its response, told the top court, “As the nature of the job and atmosphere and odd working hours in the company of the males was such that petitioner being lady was not considered fit for the job.”

The bench rejected the rationale, observing: “Day in and day out, when men are not at home, it is the women who lift gas cylinders in the house and change it. And you denied her appointment just because she is a lady. This is disrespect to womanhood.”

Sumitra had first approached the trial court, which in 1990 directed IOC to absorb her in a post other than labourer. IOC challenged the decision before the Punjab and Haryana high court, which overturned it in October 2025. She then approached the Supreme Court.

The bench noted the “long litigation” suffered by Sumitra and said gender was the only ground cited to deny her employment.

“In India, every day we say a woman is a goddess, respect her. This is a fit case for compensation,” the court said.

IOC’s lawyer offered to explore mediation during the hearing, but the bench decided against keeping the matter pending, citing the facts and the delay of more than three decades.

As Sumitra is now beyond the retirement age, the court directed IOC to pay her ₹12 lakh as lump-sum compensation.