NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought replies from the Centre and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat on a petition by a transgender woman, who accused two private schools in the two states of sacking her after her gender identity was revealed.

“The grievance of the petitioner is that her services were terminated in schools of UP and Gujarat after her gender identity was revealed. The petitioner says that she cannot pursue her remedies in two different high courts. Issue notice to the Union and the states, returnable after four weeks,” a bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said.

The bench, which also comprised justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, admitted the petition by Jane Kaushik, 31, who said in her plea that she was first fired by a private school in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri in December 2022 and was told not to join by another school in Gujarat in July 2023 for being open about her gender identity.

The petition filed by advocate Yashraj Singh Deora challenged Kaushik’s termination, lamenting the structural discrimination and harassment she had to undergo because of her gender identity. Calling the acts of two schools in breach of her fundamental right to equality and against discrimination based on gender, Kaushik’s plea asked for her reinstatement, besides seeking proper guidelines from the Union government to ensure no other transgender person faces the difficulties she has been going through.

A Delhi resident, Kaushik also referred to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, complaining the statute is not being implemented in letter and spirit. She alleged that there was a lack of will on the part of the Centre and states to ensure that transgender persons get their due.

After she was sacked by the UP school, a district-level panel, appointed by National Commission for Women (NCW) Delhi, was set up to investigate whether Kaushik was sacked due to her gender identity. However, in a January 2023 report, the NCW panel gave a clean chit to the school in question and called Kaushik’s allegations “baseless”. The NCW report has also been questioned by Kaushik before the top court.

Kaushik has also filed a petition in the Delhi high court for horizontal reservation for the transgender community so that transgender persons can avail of reservation based on both caste and gender. The plea is currently pending in the high court.

In 2014, the Supreme Court passed the NALSA judgment which ordered the Centre and states to treat them as “socially and educationally backward classes and extend all kinds of reservation” in government jobs and higher education.

However, in a separate matter currently pending before the top court, the Centre filed an affidavit in July 2023 to maintain that transgender persons can avail themselves of quota benefits only if they fall under the existing categories of reservation. This affidavit added that there are no separate reservations for transgender persons in education or employment and that they can access such benefits if they belong to the scheduled caste (SC), scheduled tribe (ST), socially and economically backward classes, or economically weaker section (EWS) communities.

In 2016, the transgender rights bill was drafted by the government in response to the Supreme Court’s 2014 judgment that confirmed the rights of the community. But almost immediately, activists and transgender groups criticised the draft legislation for confused definitions, focus on medical screening and criminalisation of traditional occupations such as begging.

The bill was then sent to a select committee and underwent several modifications before being passed by Parliament in November 2019. While the parliamentary panel had criticised also the bill for not dealing with the issue of reservation for transgender persons under the OBC quota, the final draft of the bill chose not to provide quota benefits to the community.

After a group of transgender persons moved the Supreme Court alleging that the Centre and the state governments have failed to abide by the directives of the 2014 judgment, a show-cause notice of contempt was issued by the court in March 2023, following which the Centre filed its affidavit in July.