Transgender Reservations: Panel’s Report By September 20, Govt Tells Bombay HC

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that the committee set up to assess the implementation of the 2019 Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act will submit its report by September 20.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf, while informing the court, requested the court to grant time to the state to review the report.

Two petitions filed in court

The division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Manjusha Deshpande was hearing two petitions advocating for reservations for transgender individuals in the state.

Two different petitions were filed by Dr Nia Sara Padamapani and Vinayak Kashid seeking job reservations for transgender individuals.

The central government had issued the Transgender Rules of 2020 to implement the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019. These rules outlined a procedure for identifying transgender individuals for employment purposes.

On March 14, a government resolution (GR) was passed recommending a policy for recruiting transgender individuals for employment and education. The GR stated that a 14-member committee, primarily composed of department secretaries and a psychiatrist, was established. The committee's first meeting took place on March 28, 2023.

During the hearing on Tuesday, State advocate Manish Pable informed the court that the committee had been formed and meetings had taken place. He added that while a report was awaited, the committee was unlikely to reach a decision on the reservation issue.

Advocate Kranti LC, appearing for Kashid, informed the court that his client had also approached the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) regarding the same issue. In that case, the state had stated in an affidavit that it would mirror the central government’s decision, whereas the Union government had declared that there would be no separate reservation for transgender individuals. He also noted that the MAT hearing is scheduled for this week.