In this article published by news9live.com, Jayna Kothari and Mihir Rajamane discuss the recent order by the Karnataka Government for providing 1% horizontal reservation for transgender persons.
Excerpt from the article:
In Karnataka the story has been different. In the year 2020, a public interest litigation was filed in the Karnataka High Court by the organisation Sangama seeking reservation for transgender persons for the post of Special Reserve Constable and Bandsmen in the Karnataka State Police. In this petition, Jeeva, an organisation working on the rights of transgender persons and sexual minorities filed an intervention application and was allowed to intervene. The Karnataka High Court expanded the scope of the petition to address the larger issue of reservation for transgender persons. During this litigation, the State Government expressed that they were in the process of providing reservations for transgender persons in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. Jeeva’s intervention sought from the Court that the government should provide for horizontal reservations across castes for transgender persons and not within the OBC category.
Taking the concerns raised by Jeeva, on July 6, 2021, the State Government promulgated the Karnataka Civil Services (General Recruitment) (Amendment) Rules, 2021 which introduces Rule 9(1D), providing for 1 per cent horizontal reservations for transgender persons in government employment. This is a historic development and for the first time in the country, Karnataka will be able to provide access to government employment to transgender persons.