SC directs Centre to formulate policy on employment to transgenders

The Supreme Court on Thursday told the Centre to formulate within three months a policy for giving employment to the third gender under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli told the Department of Personnel Training (DoPT) and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to consult all stakeholders, including the National Council for Transgender Persons, in this regard.

The court pointed out that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, brought into force on January 10, 2020, marked a watershed in the rights of transgender persons and imposed a positive obligation on the state authorities.

Hearing a plea by a transgender woman, Shanavi Ponnuswamy against denial of a cabin crew position by Air India allegedly owing to her sexual orientation, the bench said it passed the order to ensure implementation of the 2019 law as the issue here transcended beyond her claims on employment.

Senior advocate K V Vishwanathan, representing Air India, submitted that the application by the petitioner was rejected not because she is a transgender woman. She was unable to score the minimum qualifying marks, he said.

The petitioner's counsel said that there was no separate category for transgenders as authorities said the advertisements were issued for female cabin crew.

The court also questioned the criteria for the post, which the petitioner claimed, included blemish-free complexion.

Air India also said there was no possibility of considering her representation now as the advertisement was issued in 2017 and further, if her case was to be reconsidered, then post would have to be renotified.