High Court of Delhi: Amidst the increasing clamour surrounding the issue of ‘Transgender/Third Gender ’ a Bench comprising of Rohini , C.J. and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal , J. has directed the Union Public Service Commission to take necessary steps as expeditiously as possible in order to include ‘Transgender/Third Gender’ as a gender option in the application form for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. The Court issued the above direction to the centre having regard to the landmark judgment of National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438, where legal recognition has been granted to transgenders or eunuchs as third category of gender.
The public interest litigation filed challenged the UPSC examination notice dated 23.05.2015 on the ground of non-inclusion of ‘Transgender / Third Gender ’as a gender option in the application form for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2015. The Additional Solicitor General, Shri Sanjay Jain, appearing for the respondent contended that since the definition of transgender was not yet clearly defined by the Supreme Court in the April 2014/NALSA judgment when the matter was taken for consideration in 2015 hence no steps could have been taken in this regard however after the application seeking clarification that the April 2014/NALSA judgment was related only to transgenders and did not include gay, lesbian or bisexual, was disposed of in June 2016 by the Apex Court which had reiterated that lesbians, gays and bisexuals were not third gender and since the issue has been clarified now, appropriate steps would be taken to modify the rules relating to Civil Services Examinations to incorporate ‘Trans gender / Third Gender’ in the application forms in terms of the judgment.
Keeping in view that the examination pursuant to the impugned notification dated 23.05.2015 was already over, the Court disposed of the petition directing the respondents to take necessary steps expeditiously in terms of the holistic judgment of the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority. [Jamshed Ansari v. UPSC, WP(C) No. 5994 of 2015, decided on August 22, 2016]
