“Welfare Measures Under Transgender Persons Act Still Not Implemented”: Delhi HC

Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has pulled up both the Centre and state governments for their continued inaction in implementing reservations in education and public employment for transgender persons, despite the Supreme Court’s 2014 NALSA judgment, which recognised them as a socially and educationally backward class.

Court Flags Decade-Long Delay

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela made the sharp observation while hearing a petition filed by Praveen Singh, which has been treated as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to safeguard transgender rights.

“The judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in NALSA was rendered in the year 2014, and till date, it appears that adequate steps which ought to have been taken for ensuring the welfare of transgender persons, including making a provision for providing reservation in public employment, have not been taken,” the bench noted.

The judges also pointed out that while the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, was enacted to give legal backing to such welfare measures, several of its provisions remain unimplemented even today.

‘Governments Ought To Have Framed Policy By Now’

The court observed that despite a clear Supreme Court mandate, there has been no meaningful progress on inclusion measures. “For inclusion of the transgender persons in the society and also to secure their full and effective participation, the Governments ought to have, by now, taken some policy decision for providing reservation to these persons in public employment as already mandated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in NALSA,” the order stated.

Centre, Delhi Govt, & Transgender Council Added As Respondents

To ensure accountability, the bench impleaded the Union of India, the Delhi government, and the National Council for Transgender Persons as respondents in the matter. The authorities have been directed to take a decision within ten days, in consultation with the Delhi High Court, on extending benefits to transgender candidates under the GNCTD’s 2021 notification.

The 2021 notification provides a five-year relaxation in the upper age limit and a 5% relaxation in qualifying marks for transgender applicants in public sector jobs. The court said that if these benefits are granted, the authorities must extend the application deadline for the Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board’s Advertisement No. 03/2025 by one month and publicise the decision widely to ensure awareness.