By – Aditi Gupta
The Chief Secretary of the West Bengal government is instructed by the HC to ensure a one percent reservation for transgender individuals in all public employment roles.
The West Bengal government has been directed by the Calcutta High Court to provide a one percent reservation for transgender individuals in all state public positions. The state has enacted a policy of equitable treatment in the workplace for transgender individuals, according to the court. As per the Supreme Court’s ruling, the state has not yet created seats for transgender people.
The Chief Secretary of the West Bengal government was instructed by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha to provide a one percent reservation for transgender individuals in all categories of public employment. The transgender person’s petition led to the High Court’s decision. Although passing both the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014 and the TET in 2022, the petitioner, a transgender person, was not invited for counseling or an interview.
Justice Mantha stated in a Friday assessment that transgender people should be considered a “third gender” in order to safeguard their rights under Part III of the Constitution, as the Supreme Court decided in a 2014 case. The supreme court affirmed transgender people’s autonomy to choose which gender they identify with and ordered federal and state governments to formally acknowledge transgender people as male, female, or third gender.
Judge Mantha added that the top court had ordered the federal government and the states to act in behalf of them as a socially and educationally deprived group of people and to “extend all forms of reservation in matters of admission to educational institutions and public appointments.”
The West Bengal Chief Secretary notified the High Court that, as of November 30, 2022, transgender people are entitled to equal job possibilities without facing discrimination, based to a notification issued by the State Women and Child Development and Social Welfare Department.