Plea in Rajasthan High Court against OBC classification of transgender persons over horizontal reservation

The Rajasthan High Court recently asked the Rajasthan government to respond to a plea challenging a 2023 circular that classifies transgender individuals as members of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), instead of extending them horizontal reservation benefits [Ganga Kumari v. State Of Rajasthan]..The petitioner, a transwoman, has urged the Court to quash the circular classifying trans persons as OBCs (which entails vertical reservation) and instead order the State to extend them horizontal reservation benefits.On January 20, a Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Nupur Bhati directed the State to file its response to the plea in two weeks. .The petition before the Court challenges a 2023 circular issued by the Rajasthan government's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, which placed the transgender individuals in the OBC category. According to the petitioner, Ganga Kumari, the said circular is counterproductive and unconstitutional.The petitioner also recounts that in the 2014 judgment in NALSA v. Union of India, the Supreme Court had called for the recognition of transgender persons as socially and economically backward classes and held that such citizens should be given reservation benefits in educational institutions and in public appointments. The petitioner argues that the 2023 circular violates the spirit of the NALSA judgment. "The circular fails to account for the unique status of transgender persons as socially and educationally backward citizens, as per the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Moreover, the circular's provision to place transgender individuals in the OBC category is counterproductive, as it does not allow transgenders to avail of special reservation (as called for the NALSA judgment), and this could lead to their exclusion from both transgender-specific and OBC-related benefits," the plea says. .The circular could also perpetuate inequality, the petitioner adds. For example, a trans person who is already part of an oppressed caste may lost out on special benefits that they may have been entitled to under a scheme of horizontal reservation. "The circular disregards crucial aspects, including cases where a transgender person born into a Scheduled Caste or OBC family would lose out on the special benefits for transgender individuals, thus perpetuating inequality," the petition said. .The petition has been filed through advocates Dheerender Singh Sodha and Vivek Mathur. Advocate Udit Mathur also represented the petitioner before the High Court.Additional Advocates General Praveen Khandelwal, BL Bhati and Rajesh Panwar along with Advocates Ayush Gehlot and Mahesh Thanvi appeared for the State..[Read order]