New Delhi: The Bar Council of India (BCI) has approved the Kerala government’s request for two supernumerary or additional seats for transgender students in both three-year LLB degree courses and five-year integrated LLB programmes across law colleges in the state.
These two seats would be in addition to the existing seats in these legal education centres. The approval is interim though, as a petition seeking reservation for transgender students is pending before the Kerala High Court.
Several stakeholders welcomed the move and asserted that more sensitisation regarding the community is required at large.
The BCI cleared the state’s request on 4 November. In a letter to the Kerala government, the country’s apex legal education regulator gave nod to the state to add two seats in the two different law courses. The academic session in Kerala’s law colleges is yet to commence and the allotment process is still underway.
The order gives effect to a 24 October directive of the Kerala High Court, which is hearing a petition filed by a 22-year-old transgender, Esai Clara, who is seeking entry into a five-year law course. Clara is challenging the lack of reservation for transgender in law colleges.
The petition was filed following the Kerala state notification of 21 July that created two additional seats over and above the sanctioned strength. This government order was, however, subject to the BCI’s approval.
Clara moved the court after she cleared the state entrance exam for law. On learning there was no separate reserved category for transgenders, she approached the HC with a request to direct the state to enforce the Supreme Court’s 2014 judgement that mandated quota for transgenders in public employment and education sectors.
Section 13 of the Transgender Persons Act, 2019 obligates every state-funded educational institution to provide inclusive education to transpersons, her petition asserted.
Not only did Clara seek reservation in admission under the transgender category to the five-year LLB course, but she also sought a separate rank list for transgender persons in all future state law entrance examinations.
Terming this to be a violation of her fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution, which relate to the rights to equality, non-discrimination, freedom of speech and expression, and life, Clara moved the high court.
When asked to respond, the Kerala government informed the HC about its July order on the creation of two additional seats for transgenders. Following this, the court on 24 October ordered the BCI to grant its approval.
On Thursday, BCI lawyer Rajit informed the HC about the Council’s 4 November decision.
Taking note of the same, the HC observed: “It is heartening to note that pursuant to this court’s order, the Bar Council of India, in exercise of its powers concerning Standards of Legal Education and in compliance of the Court’s direction, has granted interim approval to the Government of Kerala’s proposal for two Supernumerary seats in the three year LLB Degree Course as well as the Five Year Integrated LLB Programme in each Law College in Kerala for the Transgender Category for Academic Year 2025-26.”
The matter will be heard again on 7 November.
Petitioner’s counsel Raghul Sudheesh told ThePrint that since his client impleaded only Government Law College as a respondent, the court wants to ensure that the benefit of reservation cleared by the government and the BCI is extended to all the law colleges functioning in Kerala .
The Government Law College is affiliated to the University of Calicut. Kerala has six universities and the National Law University-National University of Advanced Legal Studies. There are 48 law colleges in Kerala.
“The BCI has granted temporary approval for the creation of additional supernumerary seats for a period of one year, between 2025 to 2026. We support the creation of more seats for transgender. In some time, a detailed study, report and enquiry will also be conducted into the matter,” Kerala-based advocate Sruthi Rajit, who also represented BCI, told ThePrint.
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‘Others should take cue’
Kiran Nayak, a 39-year-old Adivasi transgender man with polio, who runs an organisation called Society for Transmen Action and Rights (STAR), hailed the decision as a “welcome move”.
“I am very happy that more seats are coming to us, but this decision should also be adopted by state governments across India. Other states like Karnataka should also follow suit and introduce reservation in educational institutes for us,” he told ThePrint.
Nayak also said that in addition to law courses, such reservation should be introduced for other subjects and streams too, such as medicine.
Manipur’s first trans woman doctor Beoncy Laishram, who moved the court last year to get her new name and gender updated and corrected in her educational certificates, called for greater sensitivity in the society.
“Gender equality for us is not about getting the same educational or professional positions as heteronormative men and women. Instead, it’s about us getting our due and being treated at par, with those in our workplaces and colleges, so that we are free from trauma,” she told ThePrint.
The BCI’s 4 November order requires principals of all law colleges to ensure a safe campus environment for transgenders, ensure no-discrimination and reasonable accommodation for students admitted under the third-gender category. It directs them to mail implementation reports to their university within seven days of each admission round.
The report should have information about the number of students admitted under this category. Thereafter, the universities would have to prepare a report and apprise the BCI about the vacancies in this category, if any.
The order indicates that the Council is expected to consult with the stakeholders and review the outcomes of the reservation policy for transgenders in Kerala law colleges. This will enable the Council to consider a permanent scheme or a regulatory amendment to fix a quota for transgenders in centers of legal education.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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