No reservation earmarked for transgender community: Govt tells High Court

Srinagar, Feb 26: The Jammu and Kashmir government has informed the High Court of J&K and Ladakh that no reservation has been earmarked for the transgender community.

In response to an earlier order whether any reservation has been earmarked for transgender community, government advocate Faheem Nissar Shah submitted that till date and as per the instructions received by him from the authorities, there is no reservation earmarked for the transgender community.

A division bench of Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice MA  Chowdhary, however, granted time to the counsel to file an affidavit in this regard  after he requested for the same.

The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking the court's intervention for rights of transgenders.  Meanwhile, the bench granted Rehana Qayoom, counsel appearing for Ladakh, more time to enable her “to do the needful in terms of the order of October 16, 2024.” By this order, the UT administration was directed to file a fresh compliance report disclosing action taken by the Committee constituted to identify the number of transgender individuals and also disclose the name of the hospitals where the medical care facilities are being available to them. The UT of Ladakh was also asked to file a detailed report with regard to framing of schemes for grant of pensionary benefits to the community.

The J&K government has already apprised the court that out of 550 transgenders in J&K, 450 are in the Kashmir division and 100 in the Jammu division.