Difficult to provide additional reservation for transgender persons: Maharashtra to Bombay High Court

The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Tuesday that it is presently difficult to provide additional reservations (horizontal and/or vertical) for transgender persons in education and employment forums..Advocate General of Maharashtra, Dr. Birendra Saraf told the Court that creating additional reservations for transgender persons seemed difficult at the moment. "Considering the extent of vertical and horizontal reservations which are already provided, providing additional reservations for transgender persons seems difficult," Saraf submitted. He added that the Central government has also not implemented any guidelines or regulations to implement the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India..The submissions came in a petition filed by one, Vinayak Kashid, seeking a directive to the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. (MahaTransco) to provide reservations in jobs for the transgender persons.Kashid’s lawyer, advocate Kranti LC, also informed the Court that such reservation, to the extent of 1%, has been provided in all caste categories in Karnataka. He prayed that such a reservation policy be adopted in Maharashtra as well. .In December 2022, the Court, in another case, had directed the State government to frame rules to enable transgender persons to secure employment in government posts, in compliance with the 2020 guidelines issued by the Central government.The Central Rules of 2020 were issued in order to implement the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019. The Rules provide for a procedure that could be followed for a transgender person to be identified for the purpose of employment.The Rules also include a directive to the States to come up with their policies to enable implementation of the Act within two years..The State recently issued a government resolution (GR) on March 3, 2023, for the recruitment of transgender persons in employment and education. The GR also mentioned that a committee had been set up under the Social Justice Department, consisting of 14 members, primarily secretaries of various State departments and psychologists..During the hearing today, the State government suggested that the petitioners could make a representation before this expert committee on the matter of reservation for transgender persons.In view of this suggestion, the Court proceeded to adjourn the matter to let the expert committee first consider the issue of reservation for transgender persons.