High Court issues notice to the govt. seeking its response

The Madras High Court has sought the response of the State government to a writ plea for increasing the age limit for transgenders wanting to apply for the post of Grade II police constables from 26 to 45.

The government issued a notification on March 6 about the the selection process for recruitment of 2,465 police constables.

Justice V. Parthiban directed a government counsel to take notice on behalf of the State as well as Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) on identical writ petitions filed by transgenders Deepika and Thenmozhi who had crossed the age of 26 and thereby had become ineligible to apply.

In her affidavit, Deepika, 27, stated that it was unfair to have fixed the age limit for transgenders at 26 despite having fixed it at 35 years for destitute widows and 45 years for ex-servicemen. Given the disadvantages suffered by the transgenders, the age limit should have been fixed at 45 for them too, she said.

An hindrance

Though the government had decided to conduct the recruitment exercise for women as well as transgenders and decided to give various relaxations to the latter such as the choice to get considered as a male, female or a third gender candidate, the fixation of an upper age limit would disentitle most of them from participating in the recruitment process, the petitioner said.

Referring to a study commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission in 2017 having found that only 46% of transgenders in the country were literate and 94% were either unemployed or employed in informal sector, the petitioner said, it was essential to provide maximum relaxation possible for transgenders in public recruitment processes. “Not allowing transgenders to apply even for the post of Grade II constable due to age barriers amounts to a major obstacle for the community as a whole,” she claimed.