The West Bengal government’s recent decision to allow people from the transgender community to apply for state government jobs under the ‘general’ category is set to face legal challenges as a prominent face of the transgender rights movement has approached the Calcutta High Court. Have decided to turn to Challenging the verdict as in violation of the Supreme Court’s decision in the matter.
Ranjita Sinha, a former member of the West Bengal Transgender Development Board and one of the most popular faces of the transgender rights movement in the state, told IANS that the state government’s decision to allow transgenders to apply for state government jobs was based on is the decision of the State Government. The category is in clear violation of the apex court’s 2014 judgement, which ordered reservation for people of the ‘third gender’ in the field of education and employment.
“Following the spirit of the Supreme Court order, several states including Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra introduced reservation for the community in certain categories of state government jobs. In such a situation, the West Bengal government’s decision to allow people from the transgender community to apply for state government jobs under general category is nothing but against the spirit of the apex court judgement. Therefore, we have decided to approach the Calcutta High Court against this move and seek reservation provided by some other state governments.”
Even some eminent legal luminaries supported Sinha’s views on the issue.
According to Calcutta High Court senior advocate and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, without the provision of reservation, jobs under the general category do not really help people belonging to the transgender community, who have been deprived of their rights for years. Legal rights.
Bhattacharya said, “So, in a way, the West Bengal government’s decision is against the spirit of the Supreme Court’s decision and it is fair if the people of the community challenge the decision in the court.”
Kaushik Gupta, senior advocate of Calcutta High Court, said that it is unfortunate that the executive machinery of the state has twisted the legal provisions to bypass the spirit of the Supreme Court order.
However, ministers of state like Chandrima Bhattacharya and Manas Bhunia have their own arguments.
According to him, the decision to give equal right to the transgender community to apply under general category is in accordance with the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which deals with the protection of rights of transgender persons and provisions for their welfare . and for matters connected therewith.
Bhunia said, “So, we are not going for the reservation part at this point of time.”
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