The Maharashtra Police on Tuesday would need to finalise the physical test criterion for transgender people who have applied for an employment in the Maharashtra Police service for the first time.
In December, the Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court that transgender people can apply for the post of police constable and the rules for setting standards for their physical testing would be set by February 2023.
What is the case?
In December 2023, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Abhay Ahuja pulled up the state government for lagging behind in framing rules for transpersons for the past seven years.
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This came after Arya Pujari, a transperson, petitioned in the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) in November after she was stopped from applying for the 18,331 posts for constable and driver constables as advertised by the Maharashtra police.
Following this, MAT directed the state government to let trans people apply for jobs in the state police department and the government approached the Bombah HC stating that no rules have been formulated.
What are the criteria for the physical test?
While passing a detailed order, the Bombay High Court specified that the state should take physical examinations of all the students in the next two months.
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In order to ensure that they come up with the criterion before the deadline given by the Bombay HC, a committee headed by Director General (Training and Special Squads) Sanjay Kumar was created by the government, which further comprises Principal Secretary (home), Director of Medical Education, Deputy Secretary Law and Judiciary department among others was formulated.
The committee has been given a deadline of January 30, to frame the rules and it will also be co-ordinating with the social welfare department and writing to the government for a transgender representative to discuss and formulate the rules.
Deadline set by the Bombah HC
The bench in its order said the government should frame its rules by February 28, 2023, and then hold physical tests and finally the written tests. "It is directed that till rules are framed and physical tests are conducted, the state shall not proceed to conduct written tests," the bench said.
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