The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the Chandigarh administration and police to allow a 24-year-old transgender person to apply for the post of constable (executive). The direction to the home secretary and the DGP came on Wednesday, as the court heard a petition filed by Chandigarh resident Saurav alias Kittu Tank, who could not submit an online application for the constable post because there was no transgender option in the form. A representation that she submitted on June 2 yielded no result either, her counsel Raina Godara and Neil Roberts told the court. According to Saurav, she has completed Class 12 and, after training in mountaineering, successfully climbed the Mount Yunam peak. Attempting to scale Mount Everest in April-May 2021, she climbed 7,800m, before being forced to suspend the expedition owing to extreme weather conditions. The counsel further submitted that Saurav was well qualified and desirous of participating in the selection process for the Chandigarh police’s constable (executive) recruitment. A bench of Justice Vikram Aggarwal, which issued a notice returnable by July 31 to the Chandigarh administration, said, “In the meantime, it is ordered that in case the petitioner submits an online application form mentioning his category as transgender, the same shall be accepted and thereafter considered by the appropriate authority in accordance with its own rules."
