Supreme Court issues notice on plea for transgender reservation in NEET PG seats

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea seeking horizontal reservation for transgender students in postgraduate medical college seats, which are allocated through the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET PG) [Kiran AR and ors v. Union of India and ors]..A Bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan issued notice on a plea filed by three transgender persons, who have sought a 1 per cent reservation for transgender candidates in PG medical seats. .The students have argued that the notification issued for the conduct of the upcoming NEET-PG 2025-26 violates the Supreme Court's 2014 landmark ruling in National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India.The petitioners recounted that in the NALSA judgment, the top court had called on the government to take steps to treat transgender persons as socially and educationally backward classes and to extend all kinds of reservations in public appointments and educational admissions to them..The plea adds that the NEET PG notifications issued in April for the conduct of the upcoming edition of the exam also violate the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which puts an obligation on the government to ensure the full and effective participation of transgender persons in society.The petitioners have contended that this year's NEET PG admission notice is unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14 (right to equality), 15 (right against non-discrimination), 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech and expression) and 21 (right to life) of the Constitution of India..The petitioners, therefore, have called for the Court to direct the issuance of a fresh NEET PG admission notification which provides for horizontal reservation of seats for transgender persons in PG medical seats."In the absence of horizontal reservations, the petitioners, who are (among) the few transgender persons in the country who are pursuing/ have completed MBBS and are planning to pursue their postgraduation, would be deprived of equal opportunity with no specific reservation being extended to them to ensure representation of transgender persons in postgraduate medical education despite transgender persons facing several social barriers," the plea states. The Court has also been urged to stay the NEET PG admission notice dated April 16 until it decides on the matter..The petitioners include one student from a Scheduled Caste (SC), one student from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and one General/ Open category student.Senior Advocate Indira Jaising appeared for the petitioners. The petition has been filed through Advocate Paras Nath Singh.