Welfare measures under Transgender Persons Act still not implemented: Delhi HC

New Delhi [India], October 13 (ANI): The Delhi High Court has observed that despite the Supreme Court's landmark judgment in NALSA vs. Union of India (2014) directing the Centre and states to treat transgender persons as socially and educationally backward and to extend reservation in public employment and education, no concrete policy has yet been implemented to that effect.
A Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela made the observation while hearing a petition filed by Praveen Singh, which the Court has treated as a Public Interest Litigation concerning the welfare of transgender persons.
"The judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in NALSA was rendered in the year 2014, and till date, it appears that adequate steps which ought to have been taken for ensuring the welfare of transgender persons, including making a provision for providing reservation in public employment, have not been taken," the Court said.
Noting that the Parliament enacted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, the Bench stated that welfare measures envisaged under the law have also not been implemented fully.

"For inclusion of the transgender persons in the society and also to secure their full and effective participation, the Governments ought to have, by now, taken some policy decision for providing reservation to these persons in public employment as already mandated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in NALSA," the order read.
The Court also impleaded the Union of India, the Government of Delhi, and the National Council for Transgender Persons as parties in the case.
It directed authorities to decide within ten days, in consultation with the Delhi High Court, to provide benefits to transgender persons in accordance with the GNCTD's 2021 notification, which grants a five-year age relaxation and a 5% relaxation in qualifying marks for public employment.
If such benefits are extended, the Court ordered that the last date for applications under DSSSB's Advertisement No. 03/2025 be extended by a month and widely publicised.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on November 19, 2025, with the Court directing that it be placed high on the board. (ANI)