Gujarat High Court Denies Relief To 'Ineligible' Color Blind Candidate For The Post Of Electrical Assistant In Govt Power Company

The division bench of Justice N. V. Anjaria and Justice Mauna M. Bhatt dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate challenging the Single Judge order upholding the official authorities' decision to declare him unfit for the job on the ground of his colour blindness.

While doing so, the division bench observed that an Electrical Assistant is required to handle and work with live electrical wires, which may be of different colours and thus, such a person must have the capacity to clearly distinguish the colour of the wires.

"A person who is colour blind and has to work with live wires of different colours used for different purposes would mean an invitation to grave risk. Noticing and identifying the red, blue or green colour of wires, as the case may be, is a necessary requirement for any person who may work as Electrical Assistant," the Court further added as it upheld the single judge order.

Essentially, Appellant Tushar Karsanbhai Vinzubhai applied for direct recruitment to the post of Vidhyut Sahayak, Class-IV with the Paschim Gujarat Vij Co. Ltd. and he was declared successful. The petitioner was given an appointment letter in December 2020. Thereafter, he joined the services at Porbandar.

Thereafter, he was sent for medical examination before the Medical Board, Porbandar Civil Hospital, in January 2021, wherein the board gave a certificate that the petitioner was unfit for the post of Vidhyut Sahayak.

Thereafter, he was further examined by the Board of Referees at Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad which confirmed the deficiency and also gave a certificate in March 2021 that the petitioner was unfit on the ground of colour blindness for the post in question.

This led the petitioner to file the petition before a single judge arguing that the recruitment Rules provide for only medical examination to be undergone by the candidate and they do not provide that on account of colour vision blindness, a candidate would incur ineligibility of disqualification.

On the other hand, the stand of the respondent Electricity Company [Paschim Gujarat Vij Co. Ltd.] was that the post of Electrical Assistant was a regular post and after undergoing a successful apprenticeship, the petitioner was required to undergo a departmental and physical examination for the purpose of qualifying to be appointed as Electrical Assistant.

Taking into account various aspects of the requirements of the job, the single judge had earlier dismissed his plea, and now, that very order has been upheld by the division bench.

Appearance:

Advocate Shubha B Tripathi for the Appellant(s) No. 1

Advocate Dhawan Jayswal, AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 3

Advocate Dipak R Dave for the Respondent(s) No. 1

Case title - Tushar Karsanbhai Vinzubhai v. Paschim Gujarat Vij Co.Ltd. [LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 331 of 2022]

Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Guj) 389

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