‘TAKE STEPS TO INCLUDE TRANSGENDERS IN UPSC’

NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has directed the Centre to take necessary steps to modify the rules regarding the civil services examinations to include transgender or third gender in the exam application forms.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal referred to a Supreme Court 2014 landmark judgment granting legal recognition to transgenders or eunuchs as the third gender.

“Keeping in view that the examination pursuant to the impugned notification dated May 23, 2015 is already over, we dispose of the writ petition with a direction to the respondents to take necessary steps expeditiously in terms of the judgment of the Supreme Court,” the bench said. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain had said an application seeking clarification on the SC judgment was pending due to which the government could not take further steps.

He further said after SC’s clarification in June that lesbians, gays and bisexuals were not third gender, steps would be taken to modify the rules in civil service examination. The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Jamshed Ansari who had challenged the UPSC examination notice last May on grounds of non-inclusion of transgender as a gender option in the application form for the 2015 civil services (preliminary) examination held last year.