Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Tuesday directed the Telangana State-Level Police Recruitment Board (TSLPRB) to accept applications from transpersons for the posts of police constables and sub-inspectors during the ongoing recruitment drive, after questioning the govt over the continued use of a binary classification of gender in its recruitment portal.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohinuddin passed the interim order while hearing a writ petition filed by a group of transpersons challenging the availability of only two options — male and female — in the gender category in the TSLPRB’s online application portal.The bench also questioned the govt as to why it had not issued guidelines or directions to various departments to move away from the binary classification of gender.Further directing the board to file its response to the petitioners’ contentions, the bench posted the matter to Sept 16 for further hearing.TSLPRB recently issued a notification for recruitment to around 5,000 posts in the police department. So far, transpersons have been appointed to the traffic wing of Hyderabad traffic police and as volunteers for HYDRAA to assist the personnel in enforcement.“Forcing applicants to choose either ‘male’ or ‘female’ in the gender category is not only illegal but also an act of forcing transpersons to submit a false declaration about their gender identity at the very threshold of the recruitment process,” the petitioners contended.The petitioners also referred to recommendations of Telangana Backward Classes Commission for providing horizontal reservation to transgender persons in the state.Last date extendedMeanwhile, Rajashekar Reddy, counsel for the Police Recruitment Board, informed the court that the last date for submitting applications had been extended to Sept 16.Taking note of this, the bench directed the board to accept the petitioners’ applications if they were able to submit them through the online portal. If the portal did not permit such applications, the board was directed to receive physical applications and provide an acknowledgement.
