SC seeks reply from Centre, UP and Gujarat on sacking transgender teacher

On a plea by a transgender, who has accused two private schools in the two states of terminating her services after her gender identity was revealed, the Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the reply of the Central government and the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Central government and the Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat governments to file their response on a plea by a transgender, who accused two private schools in the two states of terminating her services after her gender identity was revealed. A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra noted that the grievance of the petitioner is that her services were terminated in schools of UP and Gujarat after her gender identity was revealed. “The petitioner says that she cannot pursue her remedies in two different High Courts. Issue notice to the Union and the states, returnable after four weeks," said the bench, in its order, while admitting a plea by Jane Kaushik.

Kaushik’s plea contended that she was first sacked by a private school in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri in December 2022. Later, in July 2023, she was told not to join services at a school in Gujarat for being open about her gender identity. The petitioner has also challenged the National Commission for Women's January 2023 report, which gave a clean chit to the UP school in her matter.

The petitioner, in her plea, also referred to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, complaining the statute is not being implemented in letter and spirit. The plea contended that there was a lack of will on the part of the Centre and states to ensure that transgender persons get their due.

In 2014, the Supreme Court passed the NALSA judgment, which ordered the Centre and states to treat them as “socially and educationally backward classes and extend all kinds of reservation” in government jobs and higher education. Kaushik, in the plea filed by advocate Yashraj Singh Deora, challenged the termination, while lamenting the structural discrimination and harassment she had to undergo because of her gender identity.

Kaushik had also filed a petition in the Delhi High Court for horizontal reservation for the transgenders so that transgenders can avail of reservation based on both caste and gender. Currently, this plea is pending in the High Court. The petitioner, terming actions taken against her as a breach of her fundamental right to equality, sought proper guidelines from the Centre to ensure no other transgender person faced the difficulties she had gone through.

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