The Kerala High Court has directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to approve the creation of two additional seats in all law colleges across Kerala for transgender law students [Esai Clara v State of Kerala & Ors]
The interim order was passed on October 24 during the hearing of a petition filed by a transgender person seeking reservation and a separate rank list for transgender candidates in law colleges.
During the hearing, standing counsel for the BCI submitted that when the matter for creating additional seats was referred to the Standing Committee for Legal Education, it came to the conclusion that the final approval rested with the General Council of the BCI, whose meeting was not scheduled in the near future and depended on the convenience of its members.
The Kerala government had on August 6 sought BCI's approval for creation of
Justice VG Arun observed that the issue could not be put on hold endlessly and directed BCI to approve the Kerala government's request for creating of two additional seats for transgender students in all law colleges in Kerala within 10 days.
"It is further submitted that it's not possible to submit as to when the general council of the council will meet next. In my opinion, the issue cannot wait endlessly for the General Council of the Bar Council to meet. Hence, there shall be an interim direction to the Bar Council of India to grant approval to the request made by the Government of Kerala vide communication dated 06.08.2025 for creation of two additional seats for transgenders students in all Law Colleges across the State within 10 days of receipt of a copy of this order. Post on 06.11.2025," the Court directed.
The petition was filed by a transgender woman who applied for admission to the integrated five-year LLB Course through the Kerala Law Entrance Examination (KLEE) 2025.
Though she qualified and was included in the rank list, she was denied admission to the Kozhikode Government Law College since no separate category or seat existed for transgender candidates in the central allotment list issued by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE).
The petitioner stated that this denial violated her fundamental rights as well as the Supreme Court's directions in the NALSA judgment and the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
The petitioner thus urged the Court to direct the concerned authorities to grant her admission for the year 2025-2026 under the transgender reservation category.
She also sought the implementation of such reservation for transgender persons in all government law colleges across the State and other educational institutions under the government's control.
Advocates Raghul Sudheesh, Unnikrishnan S Thandayaan, Umadevi M, Ambily T Venu and J Lakshmi appeared for the petitioner.
Standing counsel Rajit appeared for BCI.
State Attorney N Manoj Kumar & Senior Government Pleader PG Pramod represented the state
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