Rajasthan HC Issues Notice On Plea Against Circular Classifying Transgender Persons As OBCs, Seeks Implementation Of Horizontal Reservation

Update: 2025-01-23 08:45 GMT
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The Rajasthan High Court has issued notice on a petition challenging a 2023 Circular issued by the State, classifying transgender persons as Other Backward Classes (“OBCs”), instead of providing horizontal reservation to them.The division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Nupur Bhati asked the Respondent authorities, including State's Department of Social...

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The Rajasthan High Court has issued notice on a petition challenging a 2023 Circular issued by the State, classifying transgender persons as Other Backward Classes (“OBCs”), instead of providing horizontal reservation to them.

The division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Nupur Bhati asked the Respondent authorities, including State's Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Department of Personnel and Rajasthan Public Service Commission, to file their response in four weeks.

The notification has been challenged on the grounds that in the Supreme Court case of National Legal Services Authority v Union of India (“NALSA case”), the Apex Court had provided for reservation for transgenders. However, such reservation was not given effect to by way of this notification that merely placed transgenders in the OBC list. The circular, according to the petitoner, undermines the specific recognition and rights granted to the transgender community.

The counsel representing the petitioner, a transgender, argued that the notification was against the spirt of the NALSA case and had adversely affected the petitioner. It was argued that the circular fails to account for the unique status of transgender persons as socially and educationally backward citizens. Moreover, the circular's povision to place transgender individuals in the OBC category is counterproductive, as it does not allow transgenders to avail of the special reservation, and this could lead to their exclusion from both transgender-specific and OBC-related benefits.

The petitioner further asserts that the circular disregards crucial aspects, including cases where a transgender person born into a Scheduled Caste or OBC family, would lose out on the special benefits for transgender individuals, thus perpetuating inequality.

After hearing the submissions by the counsel, the Court admitted the matter and directed issuance of notices to the concerned parties.

Title: Ganga Kumari v State of Rajasthan

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