MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday informed the Bombay High Court that it would be difficult to provide separate reservations for transgender persons in education and government jobs.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf told a division bench of acting Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sandeep Marne that with the existing percentage of reservations in the state, providing additional reservations for transgenders looks difficult.
"Considering the extent of vertical and horizontal reservations, which are already provided, providing additional reservations for transgender persons seems difficult," Saraf said.
The court was hearing a petition filed by one Vinayak Kashid, a transgender who is a graduate in Electrical Engineering and postgraduate in Technology (Electrical Power System Engineering), seeking a modification to the advertisement issued by MahaTransco in May this year for mass recruitment to include transgenders.
Kashid's lawyer Kranti LC had earlier informed the court that 1 per cent reservation was provided for transgenders in all caste categories in Karnataka and prayed that such reservation policy be adopted in Maharashtra as well.
Saraf told the court that the Central government has not yet come up with any guidelines or regulations to implement the Supreme Court judgment recognising transgenders as a third gender and are entitled to the same Constitutional and legal rights as any other citizen.
He suggested that Kashid make a representation before the expert committee, set up by the state government on the matter of reservation for transgender persons.
The bench adjourned the hearing of the plea so that the state government's expert committee considers the aspect of reservation first.
The state government had in March this year issued a government resolution (GR) for the recruitment of transgenders in employment and education.
The GR stated that an expert committee would be set up under the social justice department comprising 14 members.
The 14 members were mostly secretaries of various state departments and psychologists.