MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the Principal Secretary of the Social Justice department of the state to place their stand on the policy for reservation for transgender in Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd. (MSETCL).
The HC directed the principal secretary to file the reply by January 9 and posted the matter next month. The State Electricity Co also called MahaTransco said that the state has to file rules.
A transgender person had few months ago approached the high court seeking a directive to MahaTransco to provide reservations in jobs for the transgender community.
Advocate for state-run discom told the bench that reservation for hiring transender persons would depend on the state government's position. The HC then asked the State to clarify its stand with "preferably" a "positive affidavit" by the Principal Secretary of the concerned department.
Advocate Kranti L C for the transperson submitted before a division bench of Acting chief justice Sanjay V Gangapurwala and justice s g chapalgaonka that the examination is to be conducted by the government on December 29 through online mode and if the petitioner and other trans persons do not get the reservation, they will be deprived of the job opportunity.
The petitioner claimed that she came across an advertisement issued by MahaTransco on May 4 to recruit Assistant Engineers (Transmission) on 170 vacant posts but noted it was in violation of the Supreme Court judgment in the National Legal Services Authority Vs Union of India case, which had recognised several rights for transgender community. The top court had ordered states to reserve some seats in government jobs for transgender persons.
With no reservations for the community and getting no response from the authorities, the petition was filed before the HC to address the violation of fundamental rights.
The chief general manager (HR) of the MSETCL had said there is no Constitutional or statutory reservation for transgender persons so its decision to refuse the same was as per law.
The department had said that the advertisement had included all kinds of reservations recognised by the Constitution or central and state policies and that the recruitment process did not violate any fundamental right of the petitioner. The MSETCL sought rejection of the plea.
The Court will hear the plea next on January 9, 2023. Before the declaration of results.
