STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. ARYA VIJAY PUJARI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Writ Petition No. 15033 of 2022 and Writ Petition No. 15037 of 2022 are at the instance of the State of Maharashtra through the Principal Secretary, Home Department. In Writ Petition No. 15033 of 2022, orders dtd. 14/11/2022 and 18/11/2022 passed by the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal, Mumbai (hereafter "the Tribunal", for short) in Original Application No. 1121 of 2022 (Arya Vijay Pujari vs. State) are under challenge. In Writ Petition No. 15037 of 2022, the subject matter of challenge is an order dtd. 29/11/2022 passed by the Tribunal in Original Application No. 1203 of 2022 (Nikita Narayan Mukhyadal vs. State) is challenged.

(2.) Arya and Nikita are transgenders. They intended to offer their candidature for appointment on the post of Police Constable in the Maharashtra Police Force pursuant to advertisements dtd. 6/11/2022 and 9/11/2022 issued by the petitioner no.3. While they attempted to submit their applications online, they found that there was no option for transgenders. The format had a clause for indicating whether an aspirant is a male or a female candidate. Arya and Nikita tried their level best to have the format changed. Having failed in such attempt, they approached the Tribunal with their respective original applications. By the impugned orders, the Tribunal while acknowledging that Arya and Nikita, as transgenders, do have the right to participate in the selection process in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority vs. Union of India and Ors., reported in (2014) 5 SCC 438, has directed the Home Department to not only allow Arya and Nikita to participate in the selection process for appointment on the post of Police Constable in the Maharashtra Police Force by creating an appropriate option to facilitate identification of such of the aspirants who are transgenders, it has taken a step further to direct that in respect of recruitment to all posts in the Home Department, such option should be created for the transgenders.

(3.) Aggrieved thereby, the State is before us taking exception to the orders passed by the Tribunal primarily on the ground that recruitment rules for the post of Police Constable do not provide for transgenders to apply and, therefore, the orders of the Tribunal are contrary to such rules.