MUMBAI: After a 14-year legal battle, a Coast Guard employee who was discharged as an invalid on being diagnosed with HIV and tuberculosis has been ordered to be reinstated immediately by the high court after he passed a fitness test.He will not get back wages, but the continuity of service will be taken into account to ensure he gets pension on retirement.The employee, whom the Bombay high court designated ‘Mr X’, joined the Indian Coast Guard in 1995 and worked as a sweeper, office boy, sentry and even served four years at sea. In 2003, he tested positive for HIV and TB, and was discharged on grounds of “invalidation with 100% disability’’.He challenged the order in the high court in 2005 invoking his right to equality. His petition said in October 2004, his non-contagious TB had been declared cured and his health had improved with medication. Mr X filed a medical opinion that HIV patients may not be unfit for the nature of work he is allotted.In 2017, the HC directed a medical board to conduct a fitness test. A report submitted the next year found him fit. Finally, last week, the HC directed his immediate reinstatement in the interest of justice.The court did not accept a plea by counsel Ram Apte for the coast guard for another fitness test since a year had elapsed after the last one. But the HC accepted Apte’s submission that Mr X would be subjected to regular annual fitness tests in future like other personnel.Counsel Deviyani Kulkarni, representing Mr X, pointed out that the 2018 fitness report said the petitioner is fit to be reinstated. “There remains no reason not to reinstate him since as prescribed by guidelines and as per the principles of natural justice, one cannot be discriminated against for being tested positive for HIV,” said Kulkarni.In 2003, the coast guard had discharged Mr X by invoking rule 26, which says a person, if found to be permanently unfit for coast guard services by a medical board, may be retired, released or discharged from service. Later, the Naval Insurance Group sent a letter for payment of disability benefits. He was eligible for Rs 2 lakh as disability benefits.After Mr X moved the HC in 2005, it directed the coast guard to file a reply within four weeks. After filing the affidavit, the coast guard requested for an adjournment. Once the case resumed, Mr X filed a medical opinion that an HIV-affected person could carry on duties that he used to be allotted; the Centre and coast guard again sought time to file a reply. In July 2008, the HC bench of Justices J N Patel and K K Tated directed that the hearings be “expedited”.Finally, in 2017, the HC directed a fitness test for Mr X. He was declared fit, and the report was submitted in 2018, but still a year passed. Last week, a bench of Justices Bhushan Gavai and N J Jamadar questioned why even after the fitness test report, his reinstatement had not been ordered. The bench directed the coast guard to immediately reinstate him.

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