The Madras High Court has instructed the Tamil Nadu government not to categorize transgender individuals under the conventional male or female categories for education and employment, emphasizing that they should be treated distinctly as a special category, independent of their caste.

In an order issued on June 12, 2024, Justice V Bhavani Subbaroyan mandated that the government must establish separate guidelines for transgenders in all aspects of employment and education.

The government will instruct all state recruiting agencies to designate transgender individuals as a distinct category and establish separate criteria for their qualifying marks. Age relaxation available to other special categories will also be extended to transgenders, regardless of their caste, in future employment and educational opportunities.

The Court emphasized that transgender individuals will never be categorized as male or female in the future.

Responding to a petition by R Anushri, a transgender who was denied consideration for the combined civil service examination for the year 2017-18 under non-interview post group-II A services, the judge ruled in favor of the petitioner. The judge directed the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission to allow the petitioner, who had achieved the qualifying cut-off mark, to upload documents for certificate verification.

During the course of the hearing, the Court noted that the petitioner had been categorized under the Scheduled Caste women category but was denied permission by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) to upload her certificate for verification because her score was below the prescribed cut-off for Scheduled Caste women.

The judge criticized the TNPSC's approach as unsustainable, noting that it had failed to categorize transgenders as a special group. Additionally, the judge emphasized that categorizing the petitioner under the woman category contradicted the directives issued by both the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court.

The Supreme Court has explicitly stated that transgenders must be treated as a distinct category and should not be classified simply as male or female. In a precedent-setting case involving Punjab's placement of all transgenders under the male category, the Supreme Court deemed such action illegal and untenable.

The judge further noted that placing transgenders in the caste of their birth and treating them within that category was not beneficial and hindered their development.

In her order, the judge remarked that despite the Supreme Court's decision in the National Legal Service Authority case as early as April 15, 2014, neither the state government nor the central government has taken steps to establish a uniform framework for employment opportunities specifically tailored for transgenders.