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Kerala High Court Suo Moto Impleads Union Govt On Transgender Person's Plea For Reservation In Education & Public Employment
Tellmy Jolly
17 Jan 2024 7:27 AM GMT
The Kerala High Court today suo moto impleaded the Union Government in a plea moved by a transgender person seeking reservation for the community in education and public employment. “We can give reservation for caste, creed, community, colour, education, language, but you can't give reservation to an individual just because he or she is not perceived to be the in the mainstream,”...
The Kerala High Court today suo moto impleaded the Union Government in a plea moved by a transgender person seeking reservation for the community in education and public employment.
“We can give reservation for caste, creed, community, colour, education, language, but you can't give reservation to an individual just because he or she is not perceived to be the in the mainstream,” Justice Devan Ramachandran orally remarked during the hearing.
The Petitioner claims that the State government and the Public Service Commission (PSC) have failed to provide reservations for the transgender community despite the directions of the Supreme Court in NALSA v Union Of India (2014).
The Court remarked that the judgment in NALSA v Union is India is like the preamble of the Constitution. “Taking note of P8 judgment, I suo moto implead the Union of India,” it ordered. The Court also issued notice to the PSC and asked the State counsel to obtain instructions.
The Petitioner claims to be academically qualified and wishes to pursue a career in the teaching profession. The petitioner avers that the PSC has not appointed any person from the transgender community for any of the posts advertised and recruited by them. The petitioner wants to participate in the selection process for the UP-School Assistant or High School Teacher (Social Science) conducted by the PSC. It is averred that PSC has not yet introduced reservations for transgender persons despite the directions of the Supreme Court in NALSA (supra).
“It is worth to mention that in the notification issued after the NALSA v. UNION OF INIDA judgment, as Category No. 517/2019 published in the Extra Ordinary Gazette dated 31/12/2019 and the corresponding rank list clearly shows that there was no reservation provided for persons belonging to the transgender community and no transgender person is included in the Rank List also. But in reality, the above said guidelines are not followed and not a single Transgender person was selected for employment by the Kerala Public Service Commission.”, the plea stated.
The petitioner has thus sought the intervention of the Court to implement the directions of the Supreme Court for providing reservations for the transgender community in education and employment. It also sought directions to the state government and PSC for incorporating provisions of reservation for transgender persons for precipitating in the selection process for appointment to various posts.
The plea has been moved by Advocates Padma Lakshmi, Mariyamma A K, Haseena T
Case title: Aneera Kabeer C v State Of Kerala
Case number: WP(C) 1970/ 2024
