No policy on reservation for transgender persons in jobs: MSETCL to HC

The state transmission utility stated this in a response to a petition filed by a transgender person seeking the court’s direction to the company to offer reservation

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (MSETCL), also called Mahatransco, told the Bombay high court (HC) that it does not a policy in place to reserve positions for transgender applicants.

The company owned and run by the state government stated in its affidavit that in the absence of any constitutional or statutory reservation for transgender persons, its decision to refuse the same was in accordance with the law (HT File)

The state transmission utility stated this in a response to a petition filed by a transgender person seeking the court’s direction to the company to offer reservation.

The company owned and run by the state government stated in its affidavit that in the absence of any constitutional or statutory reservation for transgender persons, its decision to refuse the same was in accordance with the law.

The division bench headed by chief justice Dipankar Datta while hearing the petition of Vinayak Kashid last month had directed Mahatransco and the state to file their affidavits in response to the petition. Advocate Kranti L C for Kashid had informed the bench that his client was a graduate in Electrical Engineering and also had a post graduate degree in Technology (Electrical Power System Engineering) course.

Mahatransco however told the court that transgender aspirants had the option of availing vertical or horizontal reservations already provided by the Constitution and relevant statutes based on their eligibility.

In 2014, the Supreme Court recognised the gender identity of transpersons and directed the Centre and states to extend all kinds of reservation for members of the community in cases of admission to educational institutions and public appointments.

While transgender activists have sought horizontal reservation under different categories to encompass the wide diversity within the community, the Centre had proposed adding transpersons under the Other Backward Classes category to enable vertical reservation for the community. However, the National Backward Commission had opposed this move. At present, there is no enforcement of reservation for transgender persons from the Centre, despite the SC’s clear directions. Certain states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu offer reservation to transgender persons.

Kashid had applied for one of the 170 posts of Assistant Engineers (Transmission) which was advertised in the May 4 recruitment notice by Mahatransco. However, at the time of submitting the application when they did not find any reservation for transgender person, they approached the HC as the company refused to create a separate reservation category.

In compliance with the HC directions, Sudhir Wankhede, chief general manager of the MSETCL filed an affidavit wherein he stated, “The recruitment process does not violate any fundamental right under the constitution of India as it is beyond the authority of the respondent to provide any reservation which is not provided in constitution, a statute or the government policies.”

The affidavit further stated that though the applicant had already applied in the open category by taking the third option in the gender category, as there was no reservation for transgender persons, they could avail the benefit of vertical or any other horizontal reservations which would be suitable for them subject to fulfilment of the minimum qualification and other qualifying criteria.

The affidavit added that the recruitment process was in conformity of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 as it provided a third option of ‘other than male/female’ category for applicants.

The state is yet to file its response in the matter.