Meghalaya HC rules LASIK surgery ban for nurses discriminatory, orders immediate appointment

The Meghalaya High Court has struck down a government policy that disqualified nurses who underwent LASIK eye surgery while allowing the same procedure for doctors, calling it "wholly arbitrary and unreasonable."

In a significant judgment delivered on July 9, Chief Justice IP Mukerji and Justice W Diengdoh ruled that the Central Armed Police Force and Assam Rifles recruitment guidelines created unfair discrimination between medical professionals of similar standing.

The case centred on Smt. Naresh Kumari, who qualified for a staff nurse position in Assam Rifles under the Rajasthan quota in 2017, but was disqualified during medical examination solely because she had undergone LASIK surgery to correct her vision defects.

Despite achieving the prescribed vision standards after the procedure, recruitment guidelines specifically barred subordinate officers, including nurses, from any "visual correction of any kind, even by glasses." Meanwhile, direct entry gazetted officers like doctors were permitted to undergo LASIK surgery for the same positions.

The court found this distinction particularly troubling given that nurses work alongside doctors in medical settings. "I fail to see how the quality of vision required by nurses be different from that prescribed for direct entry gazetted officers like doctors, dentists, veterinary officers and engineers," Chief Justice Mukerji observed in his judgment.

The original policy, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs in May 2012, set visual standards for Central Armed Police Force and Assam Rifles personnel. While Table 1 allowed LASIK surgery for direct entry gazetted officers aged 20-30, Table 3 specifically prohibited any visual correction for subordinate officers aged 18-35.

Deputy Solicitor General Dr N. Mozika, representing the government, argued that the policy maintained "uniformity in visual standards" across ranks, treating all subordinate officers equally regardless of their specific roles.

However, the court rejected this reasoning, noting that nurses are "more or less similarly situated" as medical personnel and should receive the same treatment as doctors regarding vision correction procedures.

The judgment affirmed an earlier single judge ruling from March 2024 that had declared the discriminatory clause violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The court directed that "paragraph 67 above would apply also to nurses," effectively extending LASIK surgery permissions to nursing staff.

As an immediate remedy, the court ordered Kumari's eye examination report to be revised and directed her immediate selection to the Nurse (Naib Subedar) position in the Rajasthan vacancy. The judgment also cleared the way for filling other advertised nursing posts that had been stalled due to the policy dispute.