Panel to Ensure Jobs, Healthcare For Trans Persons
New Delhi: In a major statement on transgender rights, the Supreme Court has ordered compensation to be paid to a transgender woman whose teaching services were terminated within a year by two private schools, one in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Gujarat, due to her gender identity.
The Court also constituted a Committee headed by Justice Asha Menon, a retired judge of the Delhi High Court, to formulate an equal opportunity policy to protect the rights of transgender persons.
A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan pronounced the decision in a writ petition filed by Jane Kaushik, who was dismissed on the grounds of her transgender identity.
“We have framed guidelines until the government comes out with a policy document. We have envisaged that if any organization does not have guidelines, you will follow those guidelines until the Union comes out with the policy,” Justice Pardiwala said. he said.
“We also awarded compensation for the treatment meted out to him and his services were terminated. We took serious notice of this,” Justice Pardiwala added.
Other members of the committee are Akai Padmashali, a Karnataka-based transgender rights activist; Grace Banu, Dalit rights and transgender rights activist; Telangana-based transgender rights activist Vyjayanthi Vasanta Mogli; Gaurav Mandal, Associate Professor at Jindal Global University; Nithya Rajshekhar, Senior Associate, Center for Law and Policy, Bengaluru; and Dr. Retired Chief Executive Officer of the Transgender Health Association in India. Sanjay Sharma.
Ex officio members will be the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Secretary of the Ministry of Education.
Committee’s mandate
1. Establishing an equal opportunity policy
2. Review of Trans Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 Act and 2020 Rules
3. Reasonable Adaptation Also Read – CBI Investigation Should Be Requested Only in Exceptional Cases; May Not Be Appropriate in Recruitment Disputes: Supreme Court
4. Grievance redressal mechanism
5. Gender and name change gender
6. Inclusive medical care for transgender and gender diverse people
7. Protection of gender nonconforming and gender diverse people
After the verdict was delivered, Justice Pardiwala hoped that these guidelines could go a long way in securing the rights of transgender people in India. Details of the decision will be clear after it is uploaded.
In the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India and Ors (2014), a bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Jusyice AK Sikri recognized the third gender as legal. It has been observed that the absence of a law recognizing transgender individuals as a third gender cannot be sustained as a justification for discriminating against them in benefiting from equal opportunities in education and employment.
Later, in 2019, the Transgender Individuals (Protection of Rights) Law was implemented.
