Synopsis: The Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty issued a notice, posting the case for further hearing on 26 November.
On Monday, in an application seeking horizontal reservation for transgender persons in public jobs, the Karnataka High Court sought the State Government’s response.
The application for intervention (IA) moved by a Trust, “Jeeva” came in a plea challenging a notification from the state government concerning police constable recruitment on the grounds that it omitted a separate category for transgender people at the same level as that of “men” and “women.”
The Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty issued a notice, posting the case for further hearing on 26th November.
The IA was moved after the State Government had previously told the court that, after obtaining the opinion of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, it was considering reservations for transgender people under one of the categories of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
The IA notes that reservations should not be made for transgender people under the OBC category, but should be made available horizontally, i.e. in a different particular category, because transgender persons are discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity.
The IA reads, that the reservations should also be made in a horizontal manner for transgender and intersex people on the basis of their gender identity, similar to the way in which horizontal reservations are made for women on the basis of sex.
It is the case of petitioner that the reservation for transgender persons should be similar to the reservation for women and persons with disabilities, which can then be related to the other social categories of the category SC/ST/OBC of vertical reservation.
It further argues that the government’s proposal to include transgender persons in the OBC category would not allow SC/ST transgender persons or transgender persons in the OBC category to pursue the benefit of transgender persons.