The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide horizontal reservations to all transgender persons in the state, the Bar and Bench reported on Monday.

Horizontal reservations refer to quotas for transgender persons within Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.

In an order passed on April 8, Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan quashed a state government order that identified transgender persons as belonging to the Most Backward Class community and as a man, reported Live Law.

The petitioner in the case had argued that the state was treating gender as a caste, which was against a 2014 judgement of the Supreme Court. The top court’s 2014 judgement formally created the third gender category for transgender persons, recognising them as a Socially and Economically Backward Class.

The High Court noted that only horizontal reservation could be granted to the community to comply with the order of the top court.

The petitioner in the case was Rashika Raj, a qualified nurse, who identifies as a trans woman.

While Raj is registered under the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council, she was provided reservation under the Most Backward Class, which is a vertical reservation. Raj also said that she belonged to the Scheduled Caste but was considered part of the Most Backward Class because of her trans identity.

“Once the transgender identity is a gender identity like man or woman, it is manifestly arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 to give women horizontal reservation and treat transgender persons similar to men,” the court said, Bar and Bench reported.

“Therefore, if once gender identity is given horizontal reservation, it follows that the transgender community, being a socially and educationally backward community discriminated on the basis of gender identity, should also be entitled to similar reservation.”

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