Evolve policy on hiring transgenders for govt. services, HC directs State

Petitioner had approached court in 2019 after being disqualified in SI selections

The High Court directed the State government to frame a policy for the recruitment of transgenders to various posts within three months, while disposing of a petition filed in 2019 by M. Ganga Bhavani, a transgender (TG) from Rayalacheruvu village in Anantapur district.

The grievance was that the lack of reservations for TGs resulted in the petitioner’s disqualification from the process of recruitment of sub-inspectors of police (civil), for which a notification was issued in November 2018. Declaring that the petitioner is not entitled to appointment as there is no clarity on reservations to TGs, Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy made an oral observation that some States appear to have sanctioned 1% quota in all government services to TGs. Government pleader Y.N. Vivekananda argued that Bhavani was not entitled to be appointed because of failure to secure the minimum prescribed marks, and in the impugned notification, the reservation was caste-specific but not gender-specific.