Kerala High Court Seeks State's Stand In Law Aspirant's Plea For Reservation Under Transgender Category In All Govt Law Colleges

The Kerala High Court has sought the State government's stand on a law aspirant's plea seeking reservation under the transgender category for admission to the Integrated Five Year LL.B Course in Government Law College, Kozhikode.

According to the plea, the petitioner appeared and secured the qualifying marks in the Kerala Law Entrance Examination that was necessary to be included in the rank list. However, she was not given admission in the college under the transgender category.

The plea further seeks a direction to the government to implement reservation for transgender persons in admissions to all Government Law Colleges and other educational institutions under its control.

When the matter came up for consideration, Justice N. Nagaresh directed the government pleader to get instructions.

Referring to National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India & Ors. (2019), the plea urges that transgender persons ought to be given separate reservation in the fields of education and employment. It was also stated that the government of Kerala had issued various government orders and circulars recognizing the transgender community as a socially and educationally backward class and for granting reservation to the community.

The plea states that the act of the law college in not providing separate category/reservation slot for transgender candidates in its allotment list was stated as a violation of the petitioner's fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India. Thus, the petitioner has prayed for a direction to the 2nd respondent-Commissioner for Entrance Examinations to grant reservation to her under transgender category to the respondent law college. An interim relief is also sought in this regard.

The petitioner has also prayed that the 2nd respondent be directed to create and publish a separate reservation category and rank list for transgender persons in all future Kerala Law Entrance Examinations and similar examinations conducted by it.

The case is posted on August 25. 

The petition is moved by Advocate Raghul Sudheesh, J. Lakshmi, Ambily T. Venu, Unnikrishnan S. Thandayaan, and Umadevi M.

Case No: WP(C) 30999/ 2025

Case Title: Esai Clara v. State of Kerala and others.