Rajasthan High Court Directs State To Grant Reservation To Transgender Persons In Public Appointments, Educational Institutions Within 4 Months

The Rajasthan High Court has directed the state government to take steps to treat the transgender community as socially and educationally backward class of citizens and extend all kinds of reservations in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public appointments.

The division bench of Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Madan Gopal Vyas has granted four months' time to complete this exercise.

The development ensued in a writ petition filed by one Ganga Kumari, seeking effective reservation to the transgenders in terms of the mandate of the Supreme Court in the case of National Legal Services Authority Vs. Union of India & Ors.

The State had opposed the plea, claiming that it is a matter of prerogative of the State as to the manner and the extent to which reservations have to be provided; and the petitioner cannot seek that the reservations in a particular manner or to the extent should be provided to her.

Disagreeing, the Court observed that given the directions issued by the Supreme Court in NALSA judgment, the State is left with no option but to implement the directives 

"It has been categorically directed to the Central Government as well as State Government to take steps to treat transgenders as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens and extend all kinds of reservations in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public appointments. Such a direction clearly casts an obligation on the part of the State to work out reservation in such manner and to such extent as it may decide on the basis of relevant data available," the Bench observed.

It added that much time has lapsed since the directions were issued by the Supreme Court and the State should have come out with proper rules, regulations and legislations to provide special treatment to the community, by now.