High Court directs West Bengal govt to ensure 1% reservation for transgender persons in public employment

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has directed the West Bengal government to ensure one per cent reservation for transgender persons in all public employment in the state.

Noting that the state government adopted a policy of equal treatment in employment to transgenders, the court said the reservation has, however, not yet been made for them.

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed the chief secretary of the West Bengal government to ensure one per cent reservation for transgenders in all public employment.

The high court order was passed on a petition by a transgender person, who succeeded in the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) 2014 and also in the TET 2022, but was not called for counseling or interview.

In the order passed on Friday, Justice Mantha noted that the Supreme Court had declared in a 2014 case that ‘hijras’ and eunuchs, apart from binary genders, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of the Constitution.

The apex court had also upheld transgender persons’ right to decide their self-identified gender, and directed the Centre and state governments to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

Justice Mantha also noted that the top court had directed the Centre and the state governments to take steps to treat them as socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, and “extend all kinds of reservation in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public appointments”.

The West Bengal chief secretary had informed the high court that the state’s Department of Women and Child Development and Social Welfare on November 30, 2022, made a notification that transgender persons were entitled to equal opportunity of employment without any discrimination whatsoever.

The court said it is clear from the notification that the state itself had adopted a policy of equal treatment in employment to transgender persons.

Justice Mantha said the reservation has, however, not yet been made in the state for transgender persons in accordance with the Supreme Court order.

He also directed the secretary of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education to arrange for interview and counseling of the petitioner as a special case.