Consider providing 1% horizontal reservation for transgender persons: Madras High Court to State

The Madras High Court Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to consider providing one percent horizontal reservation for transgender persons across all caste categories in State run educational institutions and jobs..Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy directed TN Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram to take instructions on the same by March 4 this year..The Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by transgender activist Grace Ganesan seeking horizontal reservation.Horizontal reservations refers to reservation given to a class or group cutting across groups enjoying vertical reservation.Thus, while reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is vertical reservation, reservation for persons with disabilities or women's quota would count as horizontal reservation. .Senior Counsel Jayna Kothari who appeared for the PIL petitioner, told the Court that though Tamil Nadu has consistently taken steps for upliftment of the transgender community, its current reservation system for them was “complicated.”.As per the PIL, transgender persons in the State who identify and declare themselves as women are currently entitled to receive the benefits of horizontal reservation provided for women in Tamil Nadu across all caste categories. However, those who declare themselves either as men or as belonging to the third gender, are categorised either under their respective caste category or under the Most Backward Class category, whichever proves more beneficial for each of them..Following the submissions made by both sides, the Court noted that the current system therefore, results in those transpersons, who do not identify as women, and who belong to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe category, being considered only as a SC/ST male candidate, without any special consideration for being a transgender person.The Court further said that considering the recommendations in the Supreme Court’s 2014 NALSA judgement, the Tamil Nadu government can consider introducing a horizontal reservation policy without affecting the maximum cap on vertical reservation..The AG then sought time saying that this was a policy decision and the Court accordingly granted the State time till March 4 to respond to its suggestion.