Hyderabad: The Telangana high court in a petition has directed the state and central governments to introduce transgender quota in NEET post-graduate (PG) 2023 admissions. The court said it would help the third genders to fight the prejudices prevailing against them.
The petition filed by Dr Koyyala Ruth John Paul was seeking a PG seat under the transgender quota. He said that he belongs to an SC community and was also eligible for the transgender quota.
A bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji hearing the petition said, “Work out a model that benefits the candidate, You can use either the state or central quota seats, whichever is beneficial to the petitioner.”
The bench also observed that the state and central authorities have yet to establish rules despite the Supreme Court asking them to recognise the community as the third gender.
The bench, during the course of the hearing, noted that the state and central authorities had not created any rules to give effect to the apex court judgment.
Though the SC judgment asked the authorities to treat them as the third gender, the officials were categorising her as female in this year's counselling. The bench said that it constitutes prejudice and sought sensible approach towards transgenders. The bench heard from National Medical Commission (NMC)'s counsel Gorantla Pujitha, who passed on instructions she received from commission.
She said that PG medical admission counselling for 2023 would start from July 15. The existing PG medical admission regulations have no provision for gender-based reservations. Telangana authorities have created space for transgenders under OBC category. However, the state counsel said that rules pertaining to it have not yet been framed.
The bench directed the medical counselling commission, headed by the state medical education director, to implement the court decision.
