The Madras High Court on Wednesday recommended to the Tamil Nadu government to provide a specific percentage of reservation to the transgender community in state government jobs, Live Law reported.
A single bench of Justice MS Ramesh said that the reservation should be provided apart from the relaxations extended to the socially and economically backward classes.
Justice Ramesh made the recommendation on a petition filed by Saratha, a transgender, and seven other people challenging the recruitment process for police constable posts conducted by the Tamil Nadu Uniform Services Recruitment Board or TNUSRB, according to PTI.
In their plea, apart from seeking reservation, the petitioner had sought relaxation and concessions in the ongoing recruitment process by the TNUSRB for transgender persons.
The petitioners had contended that the concessions and relaxations extended to them in the common recruitment processes of Grade-II constables and in previous years of 2017-18, 2019 and 2020 were inadequate and amounted to hostile discrimination, PTI reported.
During Thursday’s hearing, the court revoked the disqualification of the petitioners from previous years. It directed the TNUSRB to treat all the petitioners as having qualified in the initial selection process.
The court also asked the recruitment board to complete the process within eight weeks.
The judge was also informed that Karnataka has extended 1% reservation for transgender persons in government jobs.
“If that be so, I do not find any impediment for the Government of Tamil Nadu to adopt a specified percentage of reservation for the transgenders of this state,” Justice Ramesh observed.
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