The Bihar Government has informed Patna HC that it has taken a decision for providing Community of Transgender reservation in appointment for the post of Constables/Sub-Inspectors.
Case Background
The Patna High Court had, on 14th December, asked the Bihar State to enable Transgender community to apply for the post of Constable while reminding the State to adopt a sensitive approach.
The Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S. Kumar had perused the advertisement issued by the Central Selection Board of Constable and said,
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“From the Advertisement, it is not clear as to whether persons falling under the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) can even apply for the post or not. The Advertisement only specifies the gender of the applicants to be Male or female.“
The Court had further asked the state in case of transgender reservation,
“Does it imply that the persons hailing from the Transgender Community are precluded from applying at all, or should not the authorities clarify that it shall also be open for such persons to apply? Significantly the candidates are required to apply online, and in the said form there is no reference of the applicants falling with the purview of the Act, enabling them even to apply.”
In case of transgender reservation, Court had remarked;
“Prima facie what we find is that the persons belonging to the Transgender Community are totally precluded from the process of applying for a post of a constable, much less, agitate their right of reservation.”
The Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Prabhat Kumar Singh further noted,
“Accounting for the total population of the Transgender Community in the State of Bihar, as per 2011 census, one post for every 500 post of Constable/Sub-Inspector stands reserved.”
The High Court has listed the matter on 28th January, 2021 in the category of ‘Order Matters’.
