Vitiligo a valid reason to reject recruitment in central armed forces: Delhi HC

New Delhi [India], Decemeber 27 : The Delhi High Court in a landmark decision has held that a candidate suffering from vitiligo is not entitled to be recruited into armed forces.
The Petition was filed against the rejection of his candidature for Assistant Commandant in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
It was argued that though the candidate was suffering from vitiligo, the same was under a covered area and in the Air Force, the candidates suffering from vitiligo can be permitted to be enrolled if the vitiligo is under a covered area.
The Ministry of Home Affairs and ITBP through Central Government Standing Counsel, Ashish Dixit Advocate argued that vitiligo is a specific disability in the recruitment rules to the ITBP, and the same was duly notified in the advertisement. Dixit further argued that the Home Ministry guidelines of 2015 also state vitiligo to be grounds for rejection.
The Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Shailender Kaur accepted the contention and held "...it is clear that the disease of vitiligo is an absolute reason for the rejection of the candidature. Merely because in other armed forces the disqualification is further qualified or whittled down, it cannot be a ground to import that condition into the present recruitment process. The respondent, in fact, is bound to scrupulously follow the advertisement and the conditions laid down therein. Applying which, the petitioner has been rightly rejected from being considered for the said post."
Vitiligo is a chronic (long-lasting) autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or colour. This happens when melanocytes - skin cells that make pigment - are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn a milky-white colour.