States have to certify person as transgender: HC told

Certifying a person as a transgender is the responsibility of the state governments and Union territories, the Centre has told Delhi High Court.

The submission was made by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in an affidavit placed before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva who is hearing pleas of two citybased transgenders seeking change of their names and gender from male to female in the government records. The ministry has said that a committee set up by it in October 2013 to make an indepth study of problems faced by the transgender community has recommended that a certificate that a person is a transgender should be issued by the respective states or Union territories. With the above submission, the ministry, represented by central government standing counsel Monika Arora, has sought dismissal of the pleas of the two transgenders.

The ministry had earlier told the court that a bill has been introduced in Parliament on August 2 which takes care of all the prayers raised by the two in their plea. The petitioners have alleged discrimination by the authorities and sought "disciplinary enquiry" against them.

In support of their claims, they have referred to a Supreme Court order holding that a person's selfdefined sexual orientation and gender identity is integral to their personality and a person cannot be forced to undergo medical procedures, including SRS or hormonal therapy, as a requirement for legal recognition of their gender identity. The two have claimed that they were MtF (male to female) transsexuals who, due to duality between their appearance, voice, mannerism, dressing style and their male IDs, faced discrimination in the society. The petitioners have contended that the department officials had refused to consider their applications for change of name without a certificate stating that they had undergone Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS).

They have sought quashing of any guideline of the publications department which mandates an SRS before changing the gender, as well as directions to the Centre "to constitute a board or committee for certifying the petitioner as an MtF transgender". They have also contended that "the action of respondents in refusing to allow the name change infringes the petitioner's fundamental right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution".-PTI