HC slams govt, DSSSB for not reserving seats for transgender persons

The court directed the Delhi government to take an appropriate decision in consultation with the high court for providing the benefits as per the 2021 notification.

The Delhi High Court on Monday slammed the government and the court administration for failure to reserve seats for transgender persons while recruiting court attendants.

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A bench comprising chief justice DK Upadhyay and justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing the petition filed by Praveen Singh, a queer individual, challenging the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board’s (DSSSB) August 14 recruitment notification which allegedly did not include the relaxation criteria for transgender persons.

Singh, represented by advocate Naman Jain, asserted that the notification was in direct contravention of the Supreme Court’s 2014 ruling in National Legal Services Authority v Union of India, as it failed to specifically reserve seats for transgenders. To be sure, the Supreme Court, in ruling, had directed the central and state governments to treat transgenders as socially and educationally backward classes and reserve seats for admission in educational institutions and public appointments.

“We are of prima facie opinion that for inclusion and full and effective participation, the government ought to have taken some policy decision for providing reservation as already mandated in the NALSA judgment. The judgment was rendered in 2014, and till date it appears that adequate steps that ought to have happened for ensuring reservation in public employment have not happened,” the court said in its order.

Jain further submitted that though the Delhi government had issued a notification in 2021 granting a five-year age relaxation and a 5% relaxation in qualifying marks for transgender persons in public employment, these benefits were not reflected in the current recruitment notification.

While the counsel representing the DSSSB and the high court acknowledged that transgender individuals were eligible to apply for the posts, the DSSSB’s lawyer also admitted that the notification did not include the provisions for age and qualifying marks relaxation.

Taking note of the submissions, the court directed the Delhi government to take an appropriate decision in consultation with the high court for providing the benefits as per the 2021 notification.

”There have been many transgender persons who could not apply as the age and marks relaxation was not made available. We thus direct the Delhi government to take appropriate decisions in consultation with the high court for providing benefits to transgender individuals as per the notification, within 10 days. If such relaxations are made available, the last date for applying shall be extended by a month. Such information shall be widely published,” the order mentioned.

Additionally, the bench converted the petition into a public interest litigation and issued notices to the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the National Council for Transgender Persons, through its standing counsel Ashish Dixit, and the Delhi government’s department of social welfare.

The matter will be next heard in November.