Karnataka High Court Asks Law College To Accept Application Of Transgender Student Claiming Absence Of Gender Option In Admission Form

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (June 3) directed Seshadri Puram Law College to accept the admission form of a transgender student who claimed that the form did not contain transgender person option in the gender column making it impossible for the student to submit the form.

The Division bench of Justice Anu Sivaraman and Justice Venkatesh Naik T orally said, "there would be no problem in writing transgender against the gender column" even though male and female options alone are mentioned against it.

In respect of another law college, BMS College of Law, which refused to provide the student with an application form citing the maximum age rule, the court directed the aforesaid college to provide the student with an application form nevertheless provisionally.

“…Two applications have been preferred by party-in-person to [the colleges]. Applications have not been duly received by either of the colleges…In Seshadripuram Law College's Application Form, there is no specific column to mark the gender of the applicant. BMS Law College has not issued application form to R1[Party In Person] on criteria of age…”

The Court then directed “BMS College of Law to issue the application form to the first respondent provisionally, pending further orders, and to permit him to apply for the three-year course” and the Seshadripuram Law College “to accept the application if preferred by the petitioner”.

The court has also directed the Karnataka State Law University (R7) to intimate this order to the said colleges coming under its purview

Context

The Court was dealing with an appeal arising from a writ petition filed by a transgender student in 2023, seeking directions to implement the Karnataka State policy On Transgenders, 2017 and provide 0.5 per cent reservations for transgenders in course admissions. The transgender student was earlier denied admission to NLSIU, Bangalore.

Since the academic year for 2023-2024 had already commenced, despite a favourable interim order for the student, NLSIU had earlier told the court in appeal that it can't provide a slot for the aggrieved student. Afterwards, the court sought information about whether the transgender student can be admitted in any law colleges under the Karnataka State Law University expeditiously since the student had already lost valuable academic years.

In an earlier order passed in the appeal, the Court had recorded an undertaking by the Karnataka State Law University (KSLU) [R7] to 'endeavor to accommodate' the petitioner in any of the affiliated colleges, including BMS College of Law and Seshadripuram Law College, 'depending upon his position in the consolidated merit list and the availability of seats under the relevant categories'.

Pursuant to the student expressing preference for these two colleges, the division bench had on an earlier date directed KSLU to 'reserve a seat each in Sl.No.4 (BMS College of Law) and Sl.No.6 (Seshadripuram Law College) in favour of the petitioner'.

Today's Developments

During the hearing today the student requested for directions to the two colleges to accept the applications for admission to the three-year LL.B course.

“The earlier order, it does not say that colleges are bound to receive it [applications]. If a column is not there, student can furnish additional information with a covering letter, if the court permits”, the petitioner's counsel submitted.

The petitioner's counsel said that the student had preferred two colleges – BMS College of Law and Seshadripuram Law College. However, BMS College did not issue the application form to him citing age limit criteria, though no such condition is expressly stated in the University norms.

As regards Seshadripuram, the petitioner said, though the college gave him an application form, it had no column for transgender persons, making it impossible for the student to submit the same back to the college.

The petitioner further relied on the landmark NALSA judgment, submitting that 'man, women, transgender must be in all forms' and that all government departments now have columns for transgender persons. The counsel for the petitioner further added that admission forms to the educational institutions do not normally contain the option for marking the 'Transgender' option.

The Court, however, noted that most application forms today do contain columns for transgender candidates. The Division Bench orally observed that if a column is absent, the candidate can furnish additional information against the question asked in the form.

The matter will be heard further on June 21, 2026.

Case Title: NLSIU v. Mugil Anbu Vasantha & Ors.

Case No: WA 96/2025