Kochi, Oct 9 The Kerala High Court on Thursday strongly urged the Bar Council of India (BCI) to explore steps to reserve seats for transgender students in law colleges across the state, calling it an issue of equality and inclusion.
The directive came while hearing a petition filed by a transgender woman who was denied admission to Government Law College, Kozhikode, despite qualifying in the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations’ Kerala Law Entrance Examination (KLEE) 2025.
She had alleged that the absence of a transgender quota category in the central allotment process violated her constitutional rights.
Justice N Nagaresh observed that reservation for transgender candidates is already being implemented in engineering and medical institutions.
“If in engineering and medical colleges, reservation can be given, why not for law colleges?” he asked, urging the BCI to follow the same approach.
The BCI’s standing counsel argued that the existing intake of 40 seats in most law colleges makes it difficult to earmark separate quotas.
The court, however, remained unconvinced. “If everywhere else it can be done, why should the Bar Council be adamant? You can pass an order stating that this year you are giving additional seats; next year, the seats will be within the 40-seat limit,” Justice Nagaresh remarked.
The court recorded the state government’s submission that it has, in principle, decided to create two supernumerary seats in each government law college for transgender students and has already sought BCI’s permission.
The court gave the BCI time till October 16 to respond.
The petitioner has sought admission for 2025-26 under the transgender reservation category and urged the Court to direct the government and BCI to ensure a similar reservation in all law colleges.
She also cited the landmark NALSA v. Union of India judgment and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, in support of her claim.
The case will be heard next on October 16.
--IANS
sg/dan
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor