No need to submit surgical reconstruction proof for change of sex in passports, HC told
Those who want to change their sex from male to female or vice-versa in their passports need not submit sex reassignment surgery/surgical reconstruction certicates in support of their sworn adavits declaring their sex, the Centre has informed the Madras High Court.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad recorded this submission, made by the Central government’s senior standing counsel V. Chandrasekharan, and disposed of a public interest litigation petition pending since 2019.
The petitioner, T.D. Sivakumar,
had urged the High Court to declare as unconstitutional and ultra vires to Article 21 of the Constitution, the provisions of the Passport Rules, 1980, which require submission of surgery certicates for change of sex.
In response, Mr. Chandrasekharan placed before the court an updated compendium of instructions or guidelines relating to the issue of passports and said that the latest instructions stated that it was only in rare cases that requests were received for change in sex, consequent to medical procedures.
Supporting certi cate
In such cases, the applicants were required to le a sworn adavit and furnish a supporting certicate from the hospital where he/she had undergone the surgery. Since a change in sex would also normally require a change in name, the procedures for change of name should also be followed.
‘In good faith’
The instructions further stated that passports would be issued only after fresh police verication and that requests for change in sex from male/ female to transgender would not require submission of any surgical reconstruction certificate since such a claim related to self identity would be accepted in good faith.
However, the PIL petitioner’s counsel B. Poongkhulali brought it to the notice of the court that the latest instructions exempt only those who want to declare themselves as transgender from submitting the surgery certicates and not those who want to change their sex from male to female or vice-versa.
She said that people who had undergone sex change surgeries long back could not be now driven to nd out the surgeons and the hospitals to obtain the certicates.
Finding force in her submissions, the judges asked the Central Government Standing Counsel to obtain instructions on this issue from the Centre.
The standing counsel reverted, stating that the procedure followed for change of sex to transgender would also be followed for change of sex from male to female and viceversa.