The Delhi High Court recently directed the Delhi government to decide a representation seeking free travel for transgender people in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and recognition as the third gender on bus tickets.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora warned that if the matter is not resolved within a month, the Managing Director of DTC would be summoned to court.
“At the request of the learned counsel for the Respondents (Delhi government), the matter is adjourned by way of a last opportunity, and the Respondents are directed to comply with the orders of the Division Bench within a period of one month, failing which the Managing Director of Respondent No. 2 shall remain present in Court on the next date of hearing,” the order stated.
The Court was passed the order while hearing a contempt petition filed by a transgender person named Amit Juyal.
In October 2022, a Division Bench of the High Court ordered the Delhi government to take a decision on the submission within four months. It had also asked the government make a decision on another demand mentioned in the representation, which was to grant free tickets to third gender because they are economically and socially backward.
Juyal contended in the contempt petition that the government has yet to make a decision on the representation despite the fact that it has been nearly six months since the Division Bench’s order.
The petition stated that this inaction is causing serious prejudice to the petitioner, who suffers while travelling by bus.
On the other hand, counsel representing for the Delhi government stated that the Chief Secretary has forwarded the representation to the State Ministry of Transport, but there is no clarity on how long the Ministry will take to decide the petition.
After reviewing the matter, Justice Arora remarked that the Division Bench’s directive is confined to making a decision on the petitioner’s representation, and hence the government’s inaction and non-consideration of the same for more than six months is certainly protracted.
Thus, the Court gave the administration one last chance to make a decision on the matter and scheduled the matter for further consideration on August 18, 2023.
