The Centre has told the Supreme Court that there is no requirement for a mandatory HIV examination in order to get a government job. The Centre specified its stand in a legal document registered in reply to an appeal by the Andhra Pradesh administration yesterday.

The state has challenged an Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment announcing a condition in the Andhra Pradesh Revised Police Manual demanding a compulsory HIV examination as unlawful.

The Centre said such a practice amounts to discrimination and will support an affinity among people to hide the disease, thus making it hard to test out its spread.

Advocate Anand Grover, who represents the affected HIV-positive candidate in the case, said: “The government’s stand is correct and supports our contention on the basis of which the high court gave its judgment.”

In December 2005, the high court had canceled order 70(3) of the police manual announcing it illegal and maintained the conflict of the HIV-positive applicant who was discarded on the grounds that he was suffering from the infection. He had, otherwise, cleared up all the examinations for the position of sub-inspector.

The state administration had vindicated its position, alleging that individuals with HIV become feeble and are unable to perform the thorough duties of a police officer.