A Division Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy in the case of Grace Banu v. State of Tamil Nadu- instructed the State to consider all the applicants who had applied to the Transgender Board before May 30, 2021, as Transgenders and to provide financial assistance to them in this COVID pandemic.
Factual Background
The Petitioner belonged to the transgender community. He represented the whole Transgender community and brought to the notice of the Court that most of the members of this community in the State of Tamil Nadu were without a Ration card, and as a result of which they were facing difficulty in getting ration from Government shops.
Therefore, the petitioner filed PIL under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the Respondents.
Court Reasoning & Judgment
The Court was informed by the petitioner that not all transgenders had any form of identification or acknowledgment of their status by any government organization. It also brought to the Court's notice that the Transgender Board in the State was not functioning for about a year and several applications for being recognized as transgenders remained pending.
The Petitioner made the suggestion before the Court that the persons who applied to the Transgender Board be considered eligible to receive the assistance. The Court accepted the suggestion of the petitioner and passed following order to the State,
“The State should consider whether all applicants who have applied to the Transgender Board in the State by May 31, 2021 (and not beyond) may be considered as transgenders for the purpose of obtaining the benefit announced by the State and extended already to some of the recognised transgenders”.
Case Details
Case:- W.P.No.12035 of 2021
Petitioner:- Grace Banu
Respondent:- State of Tamil Nadu & Ors
Counsel for Petitioner:- Ms. Jayna Kothari
Counsel for Respondent:- Mr. R. Shunmugasundaram
Judge: Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy
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