The Madras High Court on Monday granted three months’ time to the Tamil Nadu government to come up with a separate policy for the uplift of transpersons by providing them reservation and other benefits in public employment and education.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh recorded the submission of State Public Prosecutor (SPP) Hasan Mohammed Jinnah that a committee constituted for the purpose had conducted widespread consultations and submitted a draft policy to the State government on May 15 this year.
The government would now translate the draft policy from English to Tamil and conduct special camps and meetings with the stakeholders in all districts from June 21, the SPP said, and clarified that the meetings could not be held earlier because of the model code of conduct that was in force due to the Lok Sabha election.
Since the finalisation of the policy had to be done at the highest level after due deliberations, especially after Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan of the High Court had directed the government to provide horizontal reservation to transpersons, the SPP sought three months’ time for releasing the final policy.
Justice Venkatesh accepted his request and adjourned by three months a case he had taken up in 2021 for issuing a continuous mandamus on issues related to the inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ community into the mainstream and improving their living conditions.
On Monday, the judge told senior counsel Jayna Kothari, representing a transgender activist, that the court was only an enabler, and that the ultimate decision on formulating a policy for the uplift of transpersons could be taken only by the State government.
He expressed satisfaction over the Government of Tamil Nadu having readily come forward to take steps for the formulation of a separate policy for transpersons. He said that any opinion on the policy could be expressed only after it gets finalised and brought into force.
“Let us see what comes out ultimately. I cannot be micromanaging what the government should be doing. That would be too much for a court to do. Court can only tell the government that it can do so much as a welfare State, but it is up to the government to take policy decisions,” the judge added.
