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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to consider representation seeking legal recognition of the transgender community as the third gender in bus tickets issued by the bus conductor and to provide free travel for them in buses operated by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora was hearing a contempt petition filed by one Amit Juyal through Advocate Amit George. The contempt plea sought compliance with directions issued earlier by a division bench of the court, wherein the Delhi government was directed to consider the representation positively within 4 months.

"At the request of the learned counsel for the Respondents (Delhi government), by way of a last opportunity, the matter is adjourned and the Respondents are directed to comply with the orders of the Division Bench within a period of one month, failing which the Managing Director of Respondent No. 2 shall remain present in Court on the next date of hearing," the single-judge bench ordered.

Notably, a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad in October 2022, had asked the Delhi Government to consider representation seeking legal recognition of the transgender community as the third gender in bus tickets issued by the bus conductor and to provide free travel for them in buses operated by the DTC.

The division bench had then disposed of the plea directing the Delhi Government to consider the representation positively within 4 months.

The single-judge bench noted that the four months granted by the division bench expired on February 19, 2023 and that the wilful non-compliance of the order was 'writ large' on the record.

The counsel for Juyal contended that the indecision of GNCTD was causing grave prejudice to the petitioner who suffers during his bus travel and he therefore, prayed that the respondents be directed to take a decision expeditiously.

“The direction issued by the Division Bench through GNCTD is limited to taking a decision on the representation of the Petitioner and therefore, the Respondent’s inaction and non-consideration of the said representation for more than six months is certainly protracted”, the court noted.

Accordingly, the court listed the matter for further consideration on August 18.

The plea stated that the DTC in the physical tickets issued by it for commutation in the buses run by it recognizes two genders, male and female, and currently, there is no recognition of the persons under the transgender community, in bus passes, though such persons should ideally be recognized as the third gender, inasmuch as they identify themselves as a gender, separate and distinct from male and female.

"As a result, the members of the TG community out of compulsion, though reluctantly, have to choose between the two genders for traveling on the said buses," the plea added.

Furthermore, the plea submitted that the misery of the members of the transgender community is further enhanced when the bus conductor on a routine basis berates such persons for choosing the female gender, as the conductor accuses them of trying to procure free bus tickets.

In view of the above, the plea argued that the transgender community has the right to decide their self-identified gender, and the Centre and State Governments are mandated to grant legal recognition to their gender identity as categorically stated by the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India and Others.

Additionally, plea stated that providing cost-free travel to persons belonging to the transgender community in DTC buses would be a promotion of social equality as the community has always been shunned by society and treated as a community of untouchables.

Case Title: Amit Juyal v. Government of NCT of Delhi & Ors.