Patna High Court records appreciation for Bihar Government’s proposal to reserve 1 in 500 constable/sub-inspector posts for Transgender persons

The Patna High Court has registered its appreciation for the Bihar government’s recent move towards reserving seats for transgender persons in police appointments in the State (Veera Yadav v. State of Bihar)..On Monday, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prabhat Kumar Singh noted with approval the State government’s proposal to reserve positions for transgender persons in the appointment to the posts of Constables/Sub-Inspectors in Bihar..“..Appreciably, the Government vide notification dated 14th of January, 2021 has taken a decision for providing reservation in appointment to the post of Constables/Sub-Inspectors, for the persons belonging to the Transgender Community. Accounting for the total population of the Transgender Community in the State of Bihar, as per 2011 census, one post for every 500 post of Constable/Sub-Inspector stands reserved..”, the order passed by the Court said..The Court was hearing a petition moved by Veera Yadav, a transwoman, challenging the absence of a column for transgender applicants in an advertisement for the post of ‘Constable’ issued by the Central Selection Board..At a previous hearing of the case, the Patna High Court urged the state government to adopt a sensitive approach and take remedial measures to allow transgender persons to apply for the post..After perusing the application form, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S Kumar had queried,“Does it imply that the persons hailing from the Transgender Community are precluded from applying at all, or should not the authorities clarify that it shall also be open for such persons to apply?”.The Court had additionally drawn attention to the fact that there was no reference to transgender persons in the application form.Responding to this, the Government Advocate had then averred that there was no separate reservation for members of the transgender community. However, they could be considered as the persons belonging to OBC community, he added..The Bench had, however, wondered how transgender persons could take the benefit of reservation when they were precluded from applying in the first place..At the hearing on Monday, the Bench was told that the government proposed reserving one post per 500 constable/sub-inspector posts for transgender applicants..The Court directed the State to place the same on affidavit and listed the case for further hearing on January 28..A similar case is presently pending before the Karnataka High Court, where the absence of a transgender column in constable application forms has been challenged..The Kerala High Court is also considering a petition filed by a transwoman assailing the exclusion of transpersons from enrolment as cadets in the National Cadet Corps.In fact, in a statement filed yesterday, the NCC has submitted that allowing transgender persons to enrol would open a floodgate on account of the organisation's gender-specific activities for its Girls and Boys divisions..[Read Patna High Court Order]