New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- The Delhi high court has upheld the Centre's 2013 guidelines that bar the recruitment of persons with defective vision, including colour blindness, to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Assam Rifles (AR), saying that the same are "not arbitrary, unreasonable or perverse". A bench of justices Subramonium Prasad and Vimal Kumar Yadav, in its verdict delivered on November 28, observed that the 2013 guidelines are intended to ensure safety, as people with abnormal vision who cannot distinguish between uniforms or identify their colleagues may be unable to effectively engage with insurgents or terrorist groups. "The object of the 2013 guidelines is easily discernible from a bare reading thereof, which indicates that if the personnel of CAPF or AR is suffering from abnormal vision and is not able to distinguish between uniforms, there are risks of them being unable to protect themselves or their colleagues or adequately battle insurgents/ terrorist groups," the court maintained in its verdict, which was published online on December 2. The verdict came in response to a petition filed by various individuals who had been selected as constables on probation in the CISF, but were later declared unfit after being diagnosed with defective colour vision and terminated from service. The petitioners had asserted that the guidelines were violative of their fundamental right to equality, since they were only applicable to the individuals who were recruited after the guidelines. The Centre's lawyer justified the guidelines, saying colour identification is an important ability. He also clarified that the individuals were not a part of the regular service when the termination orders were passed. The court observed that as probationers they did not have an indefeasible right to continue in service until confirmation....