CHENNAI: Appreciating the Tamil Nadu government for the implementation of the Tamil Nadu State Policy for Transgender Persons, 2025, the Madras High Court has directed the state to take a decision on the request from the community for horizontal reservation in education and employment.
The direction was given by Justice N Anand Venkatesh on the request made by a representative of the community pointing to Clause 3.7 of the policy which uses the term "Right to Representation in Employment and Educational Institution".
He said it is not clear as to whether the Government wants to provide horizontal reservation to the transgender and intersex persons as it has always been the request by the community and has been reflected in many of the earlier orders passed by the various Courts, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said in an order passed on Monday.
“Hence, the State Government is directed to take a decision in this regard so that the transgender and intersex persons need not knock the doors of this Court every time and seek for reservation in public employment and educational institutions,” the judge said in an order passed on Monday.
Referring to the constitution of district level committees, the judge asked the state government to ensure representation of at least one transwoman, transmen and intersex person in the committee for its effective functioning and instructed the government to make necessary modifications in this regard.
He asked the government to issue necessary directions to the registrars about the “legal sanction” of marriage of transgender and intersex persons as it has already been recognized by the Supreme Court but the real challenge is faced when they apply for registration of such marriages before the registrars.
Justice Venkatesh, further, said the state government should take note of the suggestion of the community over the deed of familial association or other types of domestic partnership and civil union, which the parties may enter into for governing their rights.
This issue has a lot of significance since, for the present, none of the Succession Acts recognizes such rights and therefore, the parties must be able to, at least, deal with their own rights by entering into such agreements, he remarked.
The judge observed that it must be kept in mind that the policy is not meant to satisfy the requirements from the perspective of a cisgender or a heterosexual and it must always be addressed from the perspective of those persons who fall within the ambit of LGBTQA community. Ultimately, such policies must benefit them and a Welfare State must ensure that their requirements are understood and they are fulfilled.
He also wanted the government to consider the request of the community to rename the policy as Transgender and Intersex Persons Policy.
The judge asked the state government to expedite the process for bringing out a separate policy for LGBTQA+ community.
Justice Venkatesh placed on record the court’s appreciation to the state government for implementing the Policy stating that TN is among the seven states to bring out special policies for transgender and intersex persons. This policy touched upon the life, safety, health, and well-being of these communities.