Supreme Court Issues Notice To Centre & States On Plea Seeking Reservation For Transgender Persons In Public Employment

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Central Government, all States and Union Territories on a PIL seeking reservation for transgender persons in public employment.

The PIL, which was listed before a three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of IndiaDY Chandrachud, Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Mr. Justice Manoj Misra, sought was filed by a transgender person (TGP) named Subi KV.

The petitionreferred to the landmark judgment of the Apex Court in the case of NALSA V. Union of India (2014) 5 SCC 438, wherein the Court directed the state to make reservation provisions for TGP as follows :

“We direct the Centre and the State Governments to take steps to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and extend all kinds of reservation in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public.”

Moving forward, it also relied upon welfare policies implemented by several states including State Transgender Policy by Kerala government for the benefit of TGPs.

“Over time, even other states have started to recognise the hardships faced by TGPS and have started to implement measures for their benefit. The states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu etc. have also implemented welfare policies for TGPs.”

However, petitioner stated that though various steps have been taken for the benefit of TGPS, reservations in employment remains unaddressed by both the Central as well as the state governments. Further, in most of the states of India, the state policy related to TGP is still undefined.

“This void causes a lot of problems for the transgender community and they still struggle to be incorporated into mainstream society, suffering on the outskirts.”

“In spite of the declaration of this Hon'ble Court in NALSA (supra), the TGPS like the petitioner are deprived of affirmative action measures, in particular, reservation in employment under the state and in government educational institutions. Comprehensive measures are yet to be taken by the government to integrate the members of the community into our society and encourage their participation in educational, political and cultural affairs.”

Petition also draws attention into the report titled “Skilling for Livelihood Opportunities for TGP in India” which was conjointly published by The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and National Aids Control Organisation. In the said report it has been identified that the lack of sufficient training and skills employment programmes lead to, virtually, the absence of employment options for TGP.

It is worth mentioning that the present petition also mentioned other cases such as Grace Banu Ganesan v. State of Tamil Nadu and Others WP 21631 of 2023, Kabeer C v. State of Kerala and Others WP(C) NO. 29247 OF 2019(S), which have been filed in the High Court of Madras and High Court of Kerala respectively. In these cases, also the petitioners have prayed for reservation in in employment under the state. However, the said writ petitions are still pending since 2019.

In the aforenoted background, the petitioner has argued that “Various studies and reports show that the transgender community is socially, economically and educationally backward and their deplorable condition needs to be addressed at the earliest by enacting and implementing provisions for reservations.”

Based on these arguments, Petitioner, inter-alia, has prayed for the Apex Court to:

“To declare that the Petitioner and the Transgender Persons (TGPS) in general are entitled to reservation under the state for employment under the state based on Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India”.

The present PIL was filed through advocate Mohammed Sadique TA. The plea was drawn by Advocate Thulasi K Raj and settled by Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj.

Case Title: SUBI K.V. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., Diary No. 15683-2023