Rajasthan Govt Defends In High Court Classification Of Transgender Persons As OBCs, Says Reservation Policy Falls In Executive Domain
Rajasthan government's Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has defended before the High Court its circular classifying transgender persons as Other Backward Classes (“OBCs”), instead of providing horizontal reservation to them.The government in its response to a plea challenging the January 12, 2023 circular has said that the domain of policy making, includes the reservation...
Rajasthan government's Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has defended before the High Court its circular classifying transgender persons as Other Backward Classes (“OBCs”), instead of providing horizontal reservation to them.
The government in its response to a plea challenging the January 12, 2023 circular has said that the domain of policy making, includes the reservation policy, and that its extent and structure are matters of the executive and legislative competence, and no new class of reservation could be created by the Court in violation of the statutory framework.
It has been submitted that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate by any cogent or statistical material that providing a separate horizontal reservation for transgender person would be actually beneficial in terms of their proportionate representation. And without any empirical justification, no judicial intervention was allowed in such policy matters.
The petition argues that the government circular was in violation of the Supreme Court decision in the case of National Legal Services Authority v Union of India (“NALSA case”) wherein horizontal reservation and special treatment were directed to be provided to transgender persons.
The petition submitted that the circular failed to account for the unique status of transgender persons as socially and educationally backward citizens that could lead to their exclusion from both the transgender specific and OBC-related benefits, thus perpetuating inequality.
As opposed to this, the State has replied that the compliance of directions of the Supreme Court had to be judged by the Apex Court itself, as contempt petitions regarding the same were pending before it. And it was not open for the petitioner to contend before the High Court that the State had failed to comply with the decision.
The matter is listed for hearing on October 15.
Title: Ganga Kumari v State of Rajasthan & Ors.