Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed the Central and State governments, especially Medical Counselling Commission of Telangana, to extend the benefit of third gender status in addition to Scheduled Caste in admissions for post-graduate medical courses of 2023 to Koyyala Ruth John Paul.
The decision should be taken in a manner beneficial to the petitioner Paul, a bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji said. The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by Paul who sought transgender reservation with SC reservation for admission in PG courses based on her score in NEET PG 2023.
The petitioner can approach the HC if she faced any difficulty in the matter, the bench said. Paul, a doctor belonging to SC, moved the HC challenging the decision of the National Medical Commission not to consider her claim for transgender reservation in PG medical course. The NMC contended that since she already claimed reservation under SC category, the transgender reservation quota cannot be extended to Paul.
Paul’s counsel argued that Supreme Court had categorically declared in National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India made it clear members of the transgender community were required to be treated as third gender. The Central and State governments should take steps to treat them as Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of citizens in admissions to educational institutions and public appointments, the apex court said.
Directing the Central and State governments to file a detailed affidavits about what steps they had taken to provide reservations to third gender status, the bench posted the matter to July 20 for next hearing.
