Date:13/07/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/13/stories/2006071308300500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Notification to amend police service rules challenged

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: A writ petition has been filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to challenge a government notification to amend the Tamil Nadu Police Subordinate Service (TNPSS) Rules, thus restraining persons who underwent the LASIK (Laser Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) eye surgery from joining the police department.

Justice K. Mohanram admitted the petition and ordered notice to the Home Secretary and the Director-General of Police returnable by three weeks.

The petitioner, V. Balamurugan (32) of Madurai, said the police selection board on November 28, 2005 declared him medically unfit for having undergone the surgery. Then, the authorities cited a letter from the Director- General of Police, who had opined that the department was "more or less" similar to the Army, which rejected candidates who underwent the surgery, and the same procedure might be followed for the police service.

Hence, the petitioner filed a writ petition before the Madurai Bench last year to quash the DGP's letter, dated November 8, 2005, on the ground that the TNPSS Rules does not prohibit the candidates who have undergone LASIK surgery from joining the police force. While that petition was still pending, the Bench, through an interim order, permitted him to attend the police training.

But, suddenly on June 8, 2006, the Government issued the notification to amend the rules with retrospective effect from October 28, 2005, the petitioner said and sought to declare the notification as null and void.