THE DELHI High Court has ruled that disability arising out of AIDS is a valid ground for termination of service from defence forces.
The ruling came on Thursday as the court upheld the decision of the BSF to terminate the service of a jawan found suffering from 50 per cent disability due to the disease. The court clarified that it upheld the decision because the jawan had turned disabled due to the disease - and not just because he had contracted HIV. In his petition, the jawan had said he had been dismissed because he suffered from AIDS.
A division bench of justices Mukul Mudgal and H.R. Malhotra said: "The petitioner's case where he had acquired 50 per cent disability due to HIV positive status cannot be distinguished from the disability to the extent of 50 per cent acquired by a BSF personnel due to any other disease."