In short. Each railway post carries a medical category, from A-1 for loco pilots down to C-2 for clerical work, and the railway medical category vision standard is where many candidates come unstuck. If an RRB medical board has declared you unfit for distant vision, colour vision or another eye test, you usually have a short window, often a few weeks, to file a medical appeal with a specialist's certificate. This guide explains the categories, what the appeal involves, and when the Central Administrative Tribunal can step in. Start by reading your unfit memo line by line.
Is this your situation?
- You cleared the CBT and DV for an RRB post and the railway medical board has declared you unfit
- The unfit memo mentions distant vision, near vision, colour vision, binocular vision or night vision
- You wear spectacles and are not sure whether your lens power is within the limit for your post
- You had LASIK or another refractive surgery and the board has rejected you for it
- You were found unfit for your first choice and want to know if a lower category post is possible
- The appeal deadline in the RRB's notice is close or has passed
- You are a serving railway employee who has failed a periodical medical and faces a category change
In short
- Read the unfit memo first. It names the category you were tested against and the parameter you failed; most decisions about what to do next turn on those two lines.
- Check that the right category was applied. Being tested against A-2 when your post needs B-2 is an error you can correct; failing the right standard is much harder to fight.
- File the medical appeal within the deadline. RRBs publish a cut-off date, take the appeal by post with a specialist's certificate and a fee, and usually allow no second chance.
- Colour vision failures rarely reverse. Signals depend on colour, so boards and tribunals are strict; put your energy where the facts give you room.
- Ask whether you opted for other posts. Some notices consider candidates for a lower category post in order of preference, while recent ones say no alternative post will be offered.
- The tribunal checks fairness, not your eyesight. CAT can direct a fresh examination where the process went wrong, but it does not sit as an eye board.
Read the unfit memo before anything else
The memo or letter you receive after the medical usually says three things: the post, the medical category the board tested you against, and the reason you were found unfit. Sometimes it is a single line, such as "unfit in A-2 for defective distant vision". Sometimes it lists several parameters. Keep the original safe and make copies.
Compare the category on the memo with the category printed against your post in the CEN annexure. Mistakes happen, especially where a candidate has been allotted a different post from the one first expected. If the memo shows a stricter category than your post requires, write to the RRB at once. That is a plain error and is usually corrected without a fight if raised quickly.
Then look at the reason. A failure for distant vision without glasses (in the A categories) is a measurement question. A failure for colour vision is a condition question. A failure for a history of refractive surgery is a rule question. Each needs a different response, which is why it matters to get the reason exactly right.
Railway medical category vision standards, from A-1 to C-2
The railway medical category vision standards are printed in an annexure to each CEN and come from the Indian Railway Medical Manual. The figures below are as they commonly appear in recent notices. Treat them as a guide and check the annexure of your own CEN, because notices can add conditions, especially on surgery and lens power.
Vision figures are written as a fraction such as 6/6 or 6/9. The first is normal sight at six metres; 6/9 means you see at six metres what a person with normal sight sees at nine. Where two figures are given, they are for the better eye and the worse eye. "Nil" for the second eye in C-2 means a person with useful sight in only one eye can still qualify.
Vision requirement by category, at a glance
| Category | Distant vision | Glasses allowed? | Extra eye tests | Posts often placed here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-1 | 6/6 in each eye | No | Colour, binocular, field, night and mesopic vision | Assistant Loco Pilot |
| A-2 | 6/9 in each eye | No | Colour, binocular, night and mesopic vision | Station Master, Goods Train Manager, Traffic Apprentice, some Group D posts such as pointsman |
| A-3 | 6/9 in each eye | Yes, lens power within 2 dioptres | Colour, binocular, night and mesopic vision | Trains Clerk and some technical posts |
| B-1 | 6/9 and 6/12 | Yes, lens power within 4 dioptres | Colour, binocular, night and mesopic vision | Many Group D track maintenance posts, some technician posts |
| B-2 | 6/9 and 6/12 | Yes, lens power within 4 dioptres | Binocular vision; colour vision is not listed | Commercial cum Ticket Clerk and related commercial posts |
| C-1 | 6/12 and 6/18 | Yes | No special tests listed | Some workshop and design office posts |
| C-2 | 6/12 in one eye, nil in the other allowed | Yes | No special tests listed | Clerk cum Typist, Accounts Clerk, Time Keeper |
Which post needs which category
The category is fixed by the post, not by you. Safety posts that involve reading signals or moving trains sit in the A categories. Posts involving work on or near the track sit in A or B. Commercial and ticketing posts usually need B-2. Office posts need C-2. The CEN lists the category against each post code, and that list is what the medical board follows.
In NTPC, graduate and undergraduate posts spread across A-2, A-3, B-2 and C-2. Group D (Level 1) posts in recent notices range from A-2 to C-1 or C-2 depending on the department. Candidates who choose posts only by pay level and ignore the medical column are the ones most often caught out. If you wear spectacles, the A-1 and A-2 posts are effectively closed to you, whatever your rank in the CBT.
When you fill the post preference in your application, the railway assumes you have read this. That is why tribunals give little sympathy to a candidate who opted for an A-2 post knowing he needed glasses and then challenged the result.
Colour vision railway tests: why there is little room
Colour vision is tested in all the A categories and in B-1. Railway boards commonly use Ishihara plates, a book of coloured dot patterns with numbers hidden in them, and may add other tests. A candidate who cannot read enough plates correctly is declared unfit. Tinted lenses or special colour-correcting glasses are generally not accepted for the test.
Colour vision railway decisions are among the hardest to reverse. A red-green deficiency is usually inherited and does not change, and tribunals do not substitute their own view for the medical board's on a matter like this. Where a candidate has a real argument, it is usually because the test was not done properly, for example in poor light or with a worn chart, or because the candidate was tested for colour vision for a post such as B-2 where the annexure does not list it.
If your private eye specialist says your colour vision is normal and the railway says it is not, the appeal is the place to resolve that conflict. Ask your specialist to state in writing which test was used and how many plates you read correctly.
Night vision, binocular and field tests
The A categories and B-1 also test night vision and mesopic vision (sight in dim light), binocular vision (whether both eyes work together and judge depth), and in some categories the field of vision. These matter for staff who work at night on the track, judge distances from a moving engine or watch for hand signals at the edge of their sight.
Failures here are less common but harder for candidates to understand, because an ordinary eye test at a local clinic does not check them. A squint, a lazy eye or poor depth perception can lead to a binocular vision failure even when both eyes read 6/6. If the memo names one of these tests, tell your specialist exactly which one, and ask that the certificate record the method used. A general certificate that ignores the parameter you failed will not help the appeal board.
Night blindness linked to vitamin deficiency can sometimes improve with treatment, while inherited retinal conditions do not. Your specialist can tell you which one you are dealing with, and that answer decides whether an appeal is worth the fee.
Spectacles, lens power and LASIK
For A-1 and A-2, the distant vision standard must be met without glasses. For A-3, B-1 and B-2, glasses are allowed but the lens power has a ceiling, 2 dioptres for A-3 and 4 for the B categories. A candidate who reaches 6/9 only with a lens of 5 dioptres fails B-1 even though he sees well with his glasses on. Carry your current prescription and spectacles to the medical.
Refractive surgery is a frequent trap. Recent notices make candidates who have had LASIK or a similar procedure ineligible for the A categories, and in some notices for B-2 as well. Some notices accept such candidates for lower categories after a waiting period and a surgeon's certificate. Candidates are often asked to sign a declaration about surgery at DV. Do not sign a false declaration; boards can detect the surgery, and a false statement adds a second, worse problem.
If you had surgery after applying, or are thinking about it while your recruitment is pending, read your CEN's annexure first. Surgery done to pass the test can disqualify you outright.
Two practical tips from Advocate B.K. Singh
Before the medical, Advocate B.K. Singh tells candidates to get their eyes tested privately against the exact standard for their post, about a month ahead, and to keep that report. If it shows a borderline result, the candidate at least knows where they stand. If it shows a clear pass and the railway board finds otherwise, a dated report from before the medical carries more weight in the appeal than one obtained afterwards.
His second tip is about the specialist's certificate for the appeal. A certificate that says only "vision normal" is weak. He asks for a certificate that names the railway category, states that the doctor knows the railway standard, gives the measured vision for each eye with and without glasses, the lens power, the test used for colour vision and the result in numbers. That is what the appeal board will be checking against.
The railway medical appeal, step by step
The RRB publishes an appeal notice for each recruitment, often in phases. The details below are drawn from recent notices; check the one for your CEN, as the fee, address and deadline can differ.
Find the appeal notice
Look on your RRB's website for a notice titled along the lines of "medical appeal" for your CEN. It gives the cut-off date and time, the address and the fee. If you cannot find it, write to the RRB and ask.
Get the specialist's certificate
See a government or private specialist in the field where you failed, which for vision is an ophthalmologist. Recent notices require the certificate in a set format, with your attested photo and the doctor's registration number, stating that the doctor knows the railway standards.
Write the appeal letter
Many notices ask for the appeal in your own handwriting, addressed to the Chairman of the RRB. Keep it short: your details, the post, the category, the reason given for unfitness, and the specialist's contrary finding.
Pay the fee
Recent RRB notices have asked for Rs 1,000 by demand draft in favour of the zonal railway's accounts officer, refundable only if the result changes to fit. Confirm the figure and payee in your notice.
Send it in time
Notices usually require Speed Post or registered post and count the date of receipt, not dispatch. Send it several days early and keep the tracking record.
Attend the appeal examination
The zonal railway's Principal Chief Medical Director decides the appeal and may order a re-examination by a board. Go rested, with your spectacles and prescription. The decision is communicated through the RRB.
Notices commonly say that no further medical chance will be given after the appeal. Candidates who stayed away from the first medical are generally not allowed to appeal at all. For more on deadlines and what to do if you missed one, see our guide on appealing a pre-appointment medical finding.
RRB medical unfit for one post: can you get another?
Candidates who are RRB medical unfit for their allotted post often ask whether they can be shifted to a post with a lower category. The answer depends on the CEN. Some older notices allowed a candidate found unfit for the first post to be considered for other posts in the same notice, in order of their preference and merit, where they met the lower standard. Several recent notices state plainly that no alternative post will be offered.
If your CEN allowed it, check whether you actually listed the lower category posts in your preferences, and whether your merit position would have reached them. If both are true and the RRB did not consider you, write to the RRB with the relevant clause and your preference list. If your CEN rules it out, the tribunal is unlikely to read a right into it.
Our page on RRB and RRC candidate disputes covers how such claims are framed when the railway has skipped over a candidate in this way.
A made-up example: a Station Master selectee from Prayagraj
Here's a made-up example. Neha, 26, is selected for Station Master, an A-2 post. At the medical she reads 6/6 with her right eye and 6/12 with her left, without glasses. The board declares her unfit for defective distant vision in A-2.
She sees a government ophthalmologist, who finds the same 6/12 in the left eye and records that it improves to 6/6 with a small lens. Her appeal is filed in time, the re-examination confirms the result, and the RRB informs her that she remains unfit. Her CEN says no alternative post will be offered.
Neha asks whether to go to the tribunal. The advice she receives is not to file. The standard for A-2 is clear, she was tested against the right category, her own specialist agrees with the board, and the notice rules out shifting. A case would cost her time and money with little to argue. She uses the time to prepare for the next NTPC cycle and lists only B-2 and C-2 posts. Not every rejection should become a court case, and an honest look at the papers saves months.
When the tribunal does step in
The Central Administrative Tribunal will not re-test your eyes. What it examines is whether the railway followed its own standards and its own process. The stronger cases are those where the wrong category was applied, where an appeal sent on time was ignored or returned without reason, where the appeal board did not examine the candidate at all, or where a parameter the annexure does not list for that category was used to fail the candidate.
Where the medical opinions conflict sharply and the railway's board gave no reasons, tribunals have sometimes directed a fresh examination by a board at a different hospital. That is a discretionary order, not a right, and it does not happen in every case. The tribunal also expects you to have used the medical appeal first; a candidate who skipped the appeal and came straight to court will usually be asked why.
For candidates found medically unfit outside the Railways, for example in central police organisations or other departments, the route and standards differ; see our page on appeals against a pre-appointment unfit finding. The same applies to physical measurement disputes, which have their own process explained in our guide on height and chest remeasurement.
Getting ready for the medical day
Many failures at the borderline come from avoidable things. Candidates arrive after an overnight bus journey, with red eyes and little sleep, or they have spent the night before revising on a phone screen. Reach the city a day early if you can, sleep properly and avoid eye drops that you do not normally use.
Carry the spectacles you actually use, the latest prescription, and any surgery papers. If you are on medication that affects the eyes, carry the prescription for that too. Do not wear contact lenses to the examination unless the board allows it; most notices expect glasses only.
If something goes wrong during the test, such as a chart in poor light or a test cut short, say so politely to the doctor and write it down the same day with the time and room number. A complaint raised weeks later, with no note made at the time, is easy to dismiss. One raised the same day, in writing to the RRB, is part of the record when the appeal is heard.
Papers to collect for an appeal or a tribunal case
- The CEN and the medical standards annexure, with your post code marked
- Your application showing the post preferences you gave
- The medical memo or unfit letter, original and copies
- The RRB's medical appeal notice with the deadline and fee
- Specialist's certificate in the prescribed format, with your attested photo
- Any private eye report from before the railway medical
- Your current spectacle prescription and, if relevant, surgery records
- Demand draft copy and the Speed Post receipt and tracking printout
- The appeal result letter, and any letter from the RRB on alternative posts
PwBD and ex-servicemen candidates
Candidates applying under the persons with benchmark disabilities quota are examined against the posts identified as suitable for their disability, and the general vision standard is applied with that in mind. A low vision candidate who applied for a post identified for low vision should be examined with that disability in mind; a board that applied the full A-2 or B-1 standard without any adjustment may have gone wrong. If that has happened, the issue is one of reservation rules as much as medicine; see our page on PwBD candidate reservation disputes.
Ex-servicemen can be held to somewhat different standards under the notices. Read the relevant paragraph of your CEN and keep your discharge book and release medical documents ready for the board.
Medical category change for serving railway staff
A medical category change also happens after joining. Railway staff in safety categories go through periodical medical examinations, and an employee who fails the standard for his post can be decategorised. That is a different problem from a candidate's unfitness: the employee has a right to be considered for an alternative post, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 protects an employee who acquires a disability during service.
If you are a loco pilot, guard or pointsman who has been decategorised, read our guide on alternative appointment after medical decategorisation, which deals with that process separately.
Where the case is filed
A candidate's challenge to a railway medical decision is a recruitment matter for a central government post. It goes to the Central Administrative Tribunal by an Original Application under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, after the medical appeal has been decided or has been pending without decision. The High Court is not the first forum.
File at the bench covering the RRB or the zonal railway that examined you, which is where the cause of action arose. For instance, a candidate of RRB Secunderabad would ordinarily file at the Hyderabad Bench, and a candidate of RRB Kolkata at the Kolkata Bench. Ask your lawyer before filing elsewhere.
The limitation period is one year from the final decision under Section 21. In medical cases, waiting that long is a mistake in practice, because posts get filled and the panel can lapse. A case filed within weeks of the appeal result has a far better chance of interim protection.
How long each stage tends to take, and what it costs
| Stage | Usual time | Money involved |
|---|---|---|
| Private eye test before or after the railway medical | A day or two | Doctor's consultation charges |
| Medical appeal window after the unfit memo | Set by the RRB's notice, often two to six weeks | Appeal fee by demand draft as stated in the notice, recently Rs 1,000, refunded only if declared fit |
| Appeal board re-examination and result | One to four months | Travel to the zonal railway hospital |
| Tribunal application after the appeal | Drafting in two to three weeks; first listing usually a few weeks after filing | Rs 50 tribunal fee under Rule 7 of the CAT Procedure Rules (verify the current amount), copying and the lawyer's fee settled with you at the start |
| Final tribunal order | Roughly six months to two years | Further hearing dates; fees agreed stage by stage in writing |
What to do this week
Find your unfit memo and the CEN annexure and put them side by side. Confirm the category and the parameter. Look up the appeal notice for your CEN and note the deadline in your phone and on paper. Book an appointment with an ophthalmologist and take the railway's certificate format with you.
If your problem is with identity checks rather than the medical, see our guide on photo, signature and biometric mismatch. If the deadline has already passed, write to the RRB anyway with your reason and the specialist's certificate, and take advice quickly.
To have your medical memo and appeal papers checked, or for updates on railway recruitment rules, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.
Frequently asked questions
Can I wear glasses for the railway Station Master medical?
No. Station Master is an A-2 post and the distant vision standard of 6/9 in each eye must be met without glasses. Glasses are allowed only from A-3 downwards, within the lens power limit for that category.
Is LASIK allowed for RRB NTPC posts?
Recent notices make candidates who have had LASIK or other refractive surgery ineligible for the A categories, and some notices extend that to B-2. Lower categories may accept it with conditions. Check your own CEN annexure before relying on any general answer.
What is the fee for a railway medical appeal?
Recent RRB notices have asked for Rs 1,000 by demand draft, refunded only if the appeal result changes to fit. The amount and payee are given in the appeal notice for your CEN, so confirm them there.
I failed colour vision. Is there any point in appealing?
If your own specialist finds normal colour vision on a proper test, yes, the appeal is where that conflict is resolved. If your specialist also finds a deficiency, the appeal is unlikely to change the result, and the tribunal rarely interferes with colour vision findings.
Will the RRB give me a clerk post if I am unfit for Goods Train Manager?
Only if your CEN allows candidates found unfit to be considered for other posts and you listed those posts in your preferences. Several recent notices say no alternative post will be offered.
Can I go to court without filing the medical appeal?
You can, but the tribunal will usually ask why you skipped the remedy the railway provided. Filing the appeal first is safer and gives you a second medical opinion on record.
How long after the appeal result can I approach CAT?
The legal limit is one year from the final decision. In practice, file within weeks, because posts get filled and interim protection becomes harder to get as time passes.
Does a B-2 post test colour vision?
The standard annexure lists binocular vision for B-2 but not colour vision. If you were failed in B-2 only on colour vision, compare the memo with your CEN's annexure and raise it in your appeal.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court and other High Courts, the Central Administrative Tribunal and other tribunals. This guide was written and reviewed by his team.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.
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