Madras HC dismisses transgender student’s petition for admission under special category

Chennai: Madras High Court dismissed a petition filed by a transgender student for admission to Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) under the special category.

Justice Dhandapani dismissed the petition stating that providing admission under a category other than the Scheduled Caste reservation is against the policy of the state government.

The petitioner A. Nivetha’s counsel Advocate K.V. Sajeev Kumar informed the court that the university was not considering the application of his client and that she was included under the Scheduled Caste category and not under the special category of transgender persons.

The counsel also said that there were several Supreme Court judgements that had directed the state governments to treat transgender people under a special category while considering them for employment and educational purposes.

He told the court that the Tamil Nadu government had not bothered to implement the direction.

The counsel also said that to uplift the transgender community, the petitioner should be granted reservation under a special category other than the scheduled caste reservation.

Justice Dhandapani however refused to accept the submissions as the university has granted cut-off marks to the petitioner under the scheduled caste category.

The judge said that there was no special category of reservation for transgender women in Tamil Nadu and that the court would not be able to grant such reservation as that would be against the policy of the state government.

He also said that the petitioner’s counsel was seeking admission irrespective of any competition and suggested the counsel file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) demanding special category reservation for transgender persons.