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The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh govt. to issue an appointment order to a woman candidate for the post of Constable Civil Police, who was denied appointment on the ground of an alleged squint eye, despite a medical certificate certifying her vision as proper and normal.

The appellant was issued a call letter for Document Verification (DV) and Physical Standard Test (PST) at Reserves Police Line, Kanpur Dehat, on December 28, 2024. She cleared the tests, and her name was included in the qualified list for the next phase. She was then called for a medical examination before the Medical Board. She appeared before the Board but was allegedly orally informed that she was unfit due to an alleged squint eye. A re-examination by the Division Medical Board under Rule 15(6)(d) of the UP Police Constable and Head Constable Service Rules, 2015 (as amended in 2017), again declared her medically unfit on account of squint. However, no rejection order or endorsement was furnished to her.

The appellant, Akanksha Devi, then independently approached two qualified medical institutions, both of which found her colour perception and vision to be normal, casting serious doubt on the fairness of the initial medical assessment. Based on these reports, she submitted a representation seeking a fresh medical examination before an independent institution, which was rejected. She then approached the High Court, which dismissed her plea on the ground that the selection process had concluded, following which a plea was filed before the Supreme Court.

On September 15, 2026, the Supreme Court directed the appellant to appear before King George's Medical University, Lucknow, and issued a direction to the Director of the University to constitute a medical board comprising experts in Ophthalmology to submit a report after examining the appellant, specifically with reference to the squint eyes.

After finding that the KGMU's medical certificate certified the Appellant's eyesight to be proper and normal, a bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Vipul M Pancholi allowed the Appellant's plea, observing that the Appellant is entitled to the appointment.

“We are of the considered view that in the peculiar facts of the instant case and particularly in the teeth of the medical board of King George's Medical University, Department of Ophthalmology, Lucknow certifying her vision as proper/normal, we set aside the impugned order, allow this appeal and direct the respondents to issue order of appointment/call letter if she is otherwise entitled to and we make it explicitly clear that the Appellant shall not claim seniority over the candidates who have already been appointed till date.”, the Court observed.

As a result, the appeal was allowed.

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. N. K. Mody, Sr. Adv. Ms. Alpana Sharma- 3445, AOR Mr. Alok Singh, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Vinay Namdeo Bambole, Adv. Ms. Ishita M. Puranik, Adv. Ms. Debalina Mukherjee, Adv. Ms. Sakshi Rewaria, Adv. Mr. Sameer Malik, Adv. Mr. Shantanu Krishna, AOR

For Respondent(s) : Ms. Ruchira Goel- 2477, AOR Ms. Rishika Rishabh, Adv.

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