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The Rajasthan High Court connected Monday (March 30, 2026) ruled that the State government’s classification of transgender radical wrong the OBC class for reservations was a “mere facade and an eyewash” that “confers nary existent preservation whatsoever”, noting that trans radical belonging to SC, ST, oregon different socio-economic categories get nary payment from this.
The tribunal besides criticised the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026 (passed successful Parliament, awaiting Presidential assent), which takes distant the close to sex self-identification. It said this amendment risked reducing what the Supreme Court had recognised arsenic an “inviolable facet of personhood” to a “contingent, State-mediated entitlement”.
In the March 30 judgment, a Division Bench of Justices Arun Monga and Yogendra Kumar Purohit noted that horizontal reservations for transgender radical (i.e. quota for trans radical wrong each socio-economic category) mightiness besides travel with issues, and directed the State to signifier a committee to look into the “compounded, aggravated marginalisation” of trans radical from each socio-economic categories.
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In the meantime, the tribunal directed that each transgender individuals beryllium fixed a 3% further weightage successful the maximum marks for enactment and assignment to State acquisition institutions oregon State authorities posts.
At the extremity of the judgment, successful the epilogue authored by Justice Monga, the tribunal noted the complexity of the concern close now, fixed that Parliament had passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, which departs from the “constitutional baseline” acceptable successful the Supreme Court’s NALSA judgement. The Bench noted that it had authored the contiguous judgement portion keeping successful caput the “foundational premise” laid down successful the NALSA judgment: that “selfhood is not a substance of concession, it is simply a substance of right”.
In this peculiar situation, the tribunal added that it remains “incumbent” connected the Rajasthan authorities to guarantee that immoderate argumentation they devise successful airy of its judgment, this should “preserve, to the fullest grade possible, the rule of self-identification, wrong the contours of the amended law, of course”. But fixed that the amendment Bill has wholly done distant with the rule of self-identification, it is unclear what this absorption of the tribunal would entail.
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The court, however, added, “The State indispensable beryllium mindful that statutory developments cannot beryllium implemented successful a mode that dilutes law guarantees.”
The tribunal was proceeding a petition filed by Ganga Kumari, a trans pistillate moving successful the Rajasthan Police, challenging the classification of transgender radical nether the OBC class for the intent of preservation and seeking directions for horizontal reservations for transgender radical successful nationalist acquisition and employment.
The petitioner, done her advocator Vivek Mathur, argued that this classification was based connected a misreading of the Supreme Court’s 2014 NALSA judgment, which called for transgender radical to beryllium treated arsenic a socially and educationally backward people of citizens. The petitioner argued that classifying transgender radical arsenic OBCs was discriminatory against transgender radical who whitethorn beryllium to SC, ST, EWS oregon General categories.
In its judgment, the Rajasthan High Court noted that determination tin beryllium nary uncertainty that transgender radical are a susceptible and marginalised conception of society, “warranting affirmative measures”. It added, “The concern is adjacent much acute for those calved into SC/ST/SEBC families, who endure compounded and intersecting disadvantages.”
The tribunal concluded that by adding transgender radical arsenic an introduction wrong the OBC database of the State, transgender radical belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes oregon different socio-economic categories get nary existent benefits. The tribunal said specified a classification “effectively subsumes and extinguishes their pre-existing preservation entitlements, without adjacent affording them an enactment to choose”. The classification, the tribunal noted, “merely compels a prime betwixt 2 regimes without enhancing their substantive entitlements”, adding that this created a “clear dichotomy and results successful an anomalous situation”.
‘Empty ritual’
The tribunal besides noted the information submitted by the State authorities during the hearings showed that the classification arsenic OBCs “has not benefited immoderate transgender idiosyncratic till date”. Though the tribunal said that this classification “reduces a binding law directive to an bare ritual” and amounted to the State authorities “conspicuously abdicating” its law obligation, the judgement did not walk immoderate directions either upholding oregon quashing the circular done which it was made.
On horizontal reservation, the tribunal noted that this excessively would effect successful definite issues and mightiness not beryllium meaningful for the community. It said that nether the existent reservations regime, the “extremely debased proportion” of transgender radical would pb to roster points arriving astatine lone “long and irregular intervals”, which mightiness pb to a “systemic vexation arsenic the eligible candidates would beryllium compelled to hold for inordinate periods earlier a azygous accidental arises”.
Further, the tribunal noted that the supplication for horizontal preservation fell squarely successful the domain of “policy formulation concerning preservation structuring”. As a result, the tribunal had directed the enactment of a committee, headed by the Principal Secretary of the Social Welfare Department, with practice of societal activists and the transgender community, “to measure the grade of compounded marginalisation suffered by transgender persons belonging to SC/ST/SEBC/OBC/Open categories vis-a-vis others”.
The tribunal further ordered that this committee is to behaviour an enquiry and taxable recommendations to the authorities connected “measures to code the aggravated marginalisation of transgender persons from each backgrounds, beryllium it immoderate category”, based connected which it directed the State to formulate an due policy.
The tribunal besides observed that lawmakers successful Rajasthan could instrumentality enactment of the horizontal preservation argumentation devised by Karnataka successful 2021 and applicable advancements made successful Tamil Nadu with respect to this issue, truthful that it could framework its ain instrumentality oregon policy.
