HC upholds termination of services of 16 CISF personnel suffering from colour blindness

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has upheld the termination of services of 16 CISF personnel who were suffering from colour blindness or defective vision.

A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Rekha Palli said once the authorities had specifically prescribed a set of medical standards for recruitment, it is not open to the court to tinker with those standards.

The bench noted that the policy guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Home Affairs in February 2013 left no manner of doubt that any person who had a defective vision or was colour blind was ineligible for recruitment in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) or Assam Rifles.


Sixteen CISF personnel had approached the court challenging September last year's orders by which they were terminated from the armed force.

They had also challenged the order by which the appeal against their termination was rejected by the Inspector General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

The affected personnel contended that the authorities' action of terminating their services after finding them medically fit in the initial medical examination was arbitrary and illegal.

They said the termination was at a belated stage when they had already undergone training for three to five months and it was unfair and stigmatic as now they had become overage for any other recruitment.

The bench said if any person was wrongly recruited despite having the defects of colour blindness, he was to be promptly removed from service, as soon as the defect was noticed, and appropriate disciplinary action for major penalty was required to be initiated against the doctor who had declared him fit.