Background
A PIL brought by Vinayak Kashid to order the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Co. Ltd. to give transgender people job reservations. In his argument, he also told the court that Karnataka had implemented 1% caste-based reservations across the board. He appealed to Maharashtra to enact a similar reservation scheme.
Law point
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019 was put into effect owing to the Central Rules of 2020. A process that could be used to identify a transgender individual for employment purposes is laid out in the Rules. The Rules also contain a need for the States to develop their policies in order to enable the Act’s implementation within two years.
A government resolution (GR) for the hiring of transgender people in employment and education was published by the Maharastra State on March 3, 2023. The GR further stated that a committee comprised of 14 people, principally secretaries of several State departments and psychologists, had been established under the Social Justice Department.
Contention from parties
According to Maharashtra’s attorney general, Dr Birendra Saraf, adding more reservations for transgender people now seems challenging. Taking into account the degree of vertical and horizontal discrimination against transgender people in forums for education and employment. He continued by saying that no rules or regulations have been put in place by the Central government to carry out the Supreme Court’s decision in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India.
Conclusion of the court
The State administration advised that the petitioners present their case to this expert committee during today’s session regarding reservations for transgender people. In response to this request, the Court decided to postpone the case so the expert committee may first explore the topic of transgender accommodations.
According to the 2020 guidelines set forth by the Central government, the Court had ordered the State government to create regulations allowing transgender people to obtain jobs in government positions.