Diabetics can't be denied jobs, says Madras HC
Southern Railway denied a woman a job on the plea that she was a diabetic, which was a chronic and progressive disorder
In a landmark judgment, the Madras High Court has ruled that merely because a person is diabetic, an employer cannot deny him a job.
Simply put there can- not be a blanket ban on employing a person suffering from diabetes.
"Diabetes usually has no impact on an individual's ability to do a particular job and in most cases the employer may not even know that his employee has diabetes. As the impact of dia- betes and its management varies among individuals, there cannot be a blanket ban on giving public employment to persons with diabetes," a bench comprising Justice R Banumathi and Justice T S Sivagnanam held as it dismissed a petition filed by the South- ern Railway challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal.
A widowed woman, Arogyammal, who had sought a job in the Southern Railway on compassionate grounds after her husband died in harness as a commercial clerk in 2010, had moved the CAT after her application was turned down by the railways in 2012. The public sector unit's management had argued that during medical examination it was found that Arogyammal was suffering from
diabetes and hence she cannot be given employment. The railway administration contended that diabetes was a chronic disorder and it was deemed to be progressive. Hence, she cannot be given a job. The CAT overruled this objection and directed the Southern Railway to offer her a job. The railway authorities challenged this order of the CAT in the High Court. However, noting that the railway administration had failed to place on record any material to establish that diabetes was said to be a constitutional disorder commonly deemed progressive and chronic disorders liable of recurrent exacerbation of a disabling kind, the court rejected the plea. The bench pointed out that medical experts have held that diabetes was a condition where the body fails to utilize the ingested glucose properly. Further, there was a strong school of thought that a diabetic was not suffering from a disease, but only a disorder that could be managed. Citing statistics, the court said that approximately about 62.4 million people in India were diabetics as per a 2011 survey. This figure was projected to increase to 110.1 million in 2030. "In the given circumstances, one can reasonably conclude that she (Arogyammal) would have been unaware that her blood glucose level was higher than the acceptable norms. It was unfair on the railway administration to reject her candidature on a single blood test. To deny employment to her on speculation that what might occur in future is unreasonable. Medical experts stated that blood glucose levels fluctuate throughout the day, which is also the case with diabetics, and one test cannot be an assessment of the overall health," the judges said while dismissing the petition filed by the Southern Railway.