TBN,13/06:
During a hearing at the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government acknowledged the challenges associated with implementing separate reservations for transgender individuals in education and government employment. Advocate General Birendra Saraf, addressing the division bench consisting of acting Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sandeep Marne, stated that providing additional reservations for transgenders would be difficult due to the current percentage of existing reservations in the state.
Saraf expressed that considering the already established vertical and horizontal reservations, it presents difficulties to accommodate further reservations for transgender persons.
The court was addressing a petition filed by Vinayak Kashid, a transgender individual holding a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering and a postgraduate degree in Technology (Electrical Power System Engineering). Kashid sought a modification to the advertisement released by MahaTransco in May of the same year, which pertained to a large-scale recruitment process, advocating for the inclusion of transgender individuals.
During the court proceedings, Kranti LC, the lawyer representing Kashid, informed the court that in Karnataka, a 1% reservation was implemented for transgenders across all caste categories. The lawyer requested a similar reservation policy to be adopted in Maharashtra as well.
Saraf, in response, informed the court that the Central government has not yet provided any guidelines or regulations for implementing the Supreme Court’s judgment recognizing transgenders as a third gender with the same constitutional and legal rights as any other citizen.
He suggested that Kashid should make a representation before the expert committee established by the state government to address matters regarding reservation for transgender individuals.
The bench decided to adjourn the plea hearing to allow the state government’s expert committee to first consider the aspect of reservation.
In March of the same year, the state government issued a government resolution (GR) regarding the recruitment of transgenders in employment and education. The GR stated that a 14-member expert committee would be established under the social justice department, with most members being secretaries of various state departments and psychologists
