The boxer moved the high court claiming that there was no specific mention in the CISF notification that Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of the reasons for rejection and its action was arbitrary as “obesity is not a permanent or incurable illness”. The Delhi High Court recently held that paramilitary forces like the CISF are the best judges to set their own standards for selection and which merits no interference by courts. A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Saurabh Banerjee was hearing a plea by a boxer who had applied for the post of Head Constable (General Duty) in the Central Industrial Service Force (CISF) but was later declared medically unfit for being “obese”. The boxer moved the high court claiming that there was no specific mention in the CISF notification that Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of the reasons for rejection and its action was arbitrary as “obesity is not a permanent or incurable illness”. The boxer claimed that she had won several medals in various events in the 81-85 kg weight category. The CISF, through its notification of January 1, had called for applications for the post of head constable from various sporting disciplines for 10 different weight categories for “women‟ ranging from 48 kg to 81 kg with only one vacancy in each of the said categories. The boxer claimed that after applying for the post under the 81 kg category she was called for a sports trial. She was selected provisionally but was declared unfit due to obesity in her medical examination. She applied for a review medical exam wherein she was again declared medically unfit. According to the CISF, the determining factor for the selection of any candidate in a category like boxing is the BMI, which according to the force has to be between 20-25 kg/m3. The CISF argued that the candidate’s BMI was around 29kg/m3 which was beyond the range set by it. It also argued that merely being in the weight category in a sport like boxing is not sufficient as the determining factors are the BMI ratio and whether the candidate is in “shape”.

The Delhi High Court observed that the boxer was asking it to go beyond the scope of Article 226 jurisdiction as “setting or adjudging the parameters for medical fitness/selection of someone in the Sports category by an Authority, especially by the Armed Forces and the Para Military Forces like CISF does not fall in the domain of a Court.” The high court in its judgment of October 28 observed that it is not competent to do so as the forces require and follow “different, if not high, standards”. “According to us, it is too far-fetched for this Court to try to or indeed cross the boundaries to charter into inaccessible lands without any knowledge or instructions in that regard. The forces are the best judges to set their own standards for selection as per their own discretion, which generally merits no interference by a Court of law, save and unless, in case of some grave exceptional circumstances,” the court held. It also noted that there were no allegations of bias or violation of natural justice principles by the boxer against the CISF. The HC held that although the notification did not mention BMI as the reason for the woman’s rejection but it did not make any difference as what is required to be stated are the “minimum requisites/qualifications for determining the eligibility of a candidate and not the manner/ procedure to be followed”. The high court also observed that the CISF did not follow a “pick and choose policy” or discriminated against the woman boxer against the other candidates.