Bombay High Court seeks response from Maharashtra government on plea for transgender reservation in MahaTransco

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Social Justice department of the Maharashtra government to make its stand clear regarding reservation for transgender persons in Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. (MSETCL)..During the hearing today, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice SG Chapalgaunkar was informed about an affidavit filed by the State owned company which said that there is no constitutional or statutory provision or government decision mandating reservation in jobs for the transgender community. The Court sought to know specifically what the stand of the State was on the issue and said that a senior official of the State has to file an affidavit setting out the stance.“We want to know what the State’s stand is. That is important. And we hope and want to see a positive affidavit on that. We want an affidavit from a senior personnel within the concerned department of the government,” the Court said. The concerned department dealing with this issue would be the Social Justice & Special Assistance Department of the State government. The matter was posted for further hearing on January 9, 2023. .The Court was hearing a petition filed by one Vinayak Kashid, a graduate in Electrical Engineering and post graduate in Technology (Electrical Power System Engineering), seeking modification to the advertisement issued by MahaTransco in May this year for mass recruitment.The advertisement issued by the MahaTransco was to recruit Assistant Engineers (Transmission) for 170 vacant posts. However, the advertisement did not specify for reservation for the transgender community. Aggrieved by the exclusion of transgender community, Kashid approached the concerned authorities through phone calls and email.However, when there was no response to the same, Kashid approached the High Court. .MSETCL had filed a reply stating that in the absence of any statutory provision or government decision, it does not have the power to provide reservation for transgender persons.