State Government Challenges MAT Decision in High Court

The State Government of Maharashtra has taken legal action against a directive from the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT), appealing to the Bombay High Court. This move comes in response to the MAT's order instructing the state to grant grace marks to two transgender individuals, thus enabling their qualification for the police constable exam.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court, comprising Justice AS Chandurkar and Justice Jitendra Jain, has issued a notice regarding the State Government's appeal. The notice marks the beginning of legal proceedings in the high court regarding this matter. A report published in the Law Beat stated that the controversy stems from the recruitment process initiated by the State Government in November 2021. Following the advertisement for police constable positions, Vinayak Kashid and Aryan Pujari, both transgender individuals, approached the MAT. They requested the inclusion of a third gender option in the online application form, a plea that the MAT accepted and directed the State Government to implement. However, the State Government contested this decision in the high court, leading to a legal battle.

In December 2022, the high court dismissed the State Government's appeal, affirming the MAT's directive to include a third gender option. However, despite these accommodations, Kashid and Pujari failed to meet the qualifying criteria for the police constable exam. Subsequently, they sought reservations for transgender individuals from the MAT, which then directed the State Government to grant them grace marks, considering their performance had reached the 50% mark threshold.

The State Government has argued against the MAT's decision, contending that granting grace marks could disadvantage other deserving candidates. They assert that such preferential treatment for the two transgender individuals could potentially violate Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees equality before the law.  This order addressed requests for a "third gender" option and reservations for transgender individuals in government employment. The MAT panel, chaired by Justice Mridula Bhatkar and member Medha Gadgil, had directed that the transgender applicants receive necessary grace marks to meet the cutoff or be considered for positions if they attained at least 50% of the total marks.