Kerala Administrative Tribunal orders State Public Service Commission to consider job applications of two transgender persons

The Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, on Tuesday directed the Kerala Public Service Commission to provisionally accept and consider the job applications submitted by two transgender persons [Arjun Geetha v State of Kerala & Ors.] [Aneera Kabeer C v State of Kerala & Ors.]..A bench of Justice PV Asha and administrative member Rajesh Dewan allowed two transgender persons to submit their job applications to the KPSC and in both cases, directed the Commission to "process the application provisionally and subject to further orders".The first application that the tribunal granted interim relief on was moved by one Arjun Geetha who is a transman (assigned female at birth but identifies as a man) who is an aspirant for a job with the State police. The notifications are issued by the PSC to the posts of Sub-Inspector of Police (Trainee) in Police (Kerala Civil Police) Department, Women Police Constable (Woman Police Battalion) & post of Armed Police Sub Inspector (Trainee) in Police (Armed Police Battalion) department. The last date for the applying for the jobs was February 1, 2023.The applicant attempted to apply for the post of Sub-Inspector of Police (Trainee) and was successful in submitting the application but the notification did not mention physical standards, suitable for transgender persons. Hence, it was argued by Geetha that by not providing for relaxed physical requirement for transgender persons, the notification was bad in law. For the posts of Woman Police Constable and Army Police Sub Inspector (Trainee), he was unable to apply as he was informed that he was ineligible because of his gender identity even though the latter position did not specify any impediment to apply merely because he is a transman. "Therefore, the notifications are discriminatory in nature based on sex and they are liable to be set aside. They violate Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution. The arbitrary exclusion of transgender persons from the ambit of the posts notified is unjust, illegal, and arbitrary, and amounts to the violation of the applicants' fundamental rights," Geetha's plea read. .The applicant in the second case was one Aneera Kabeer, a transwoman (assigned male at birth but identifies as a woman) who sought to be employed as a House Keeper (Female) under the department of Homeopathic Medical College. The last date for applying in this case was also February 1.The notification to the post specified that only female candidates can apply for the post but did not include transwomen specifically."The arbitrary exclusion of transwomen from the ambit of the post notified is unjust, illegal, and arbitrary, and amounts to the violation of the applicants' fundamental rights," Kabeer's application read. .Both applications also argued the exclusion of transgender persons from the KPSC posts was violative of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rules), 2020, as well as various apex court judgments including in the landmark Nalsa Case, and the State Policy for Transgender in Kerala, 2015.Therefore, the applicants sought directions to the respondents including the Kerala government and KPSC to issue a separate notification for transgender persons to various posts, including the post covered by the notifications in Geetha and Kabeer's cases, enabling them to apply under them..The applicants in both cases were represented by advocates Kaleeswaram Raj, Thulasi K Raj, Joggy Mathunni, Chinnu Maria Antony, Aparna Menon, Simran, Manjima and Shilpasree.