Transgender in Delhi HC Against Guidelines For Changing Name, Gender

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has sought response of the Centre, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Delhi University (DU) on a transgender's plea challenging the guidelines of these authorities for change of name and gender by a person.

According to the petition, the university norms say that for change of name and gender, the same have to be first altered in the records of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The guidelines of the Board, on the other hand, say that request for such changes in its records would be entertained only if it is made before publication of the result, the PIL has said.

The Department of Publications of the Centre requires that a sex reassignment surgery be undergone before change of name and gender, it said.

Taking note of the PIL, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Centre, CBSE and DU and sought their response on the petition which challenges all these requirements for change of name and gender.

The court also told the Board why it does not take an interest in the issue and why it was not doing it (making the change) on its own.

"Why don't you show your own interest in the issue? You should do it on your own," the bench said and listed the matter for hearing on November 27. The petitioner was assigned the male gender at birth but identifies self as a transgender.

The plea, filed through advocate Yashraj Singh Deora, has alleged that the criteria laid down by the various authorities for change of name and gender are "arbitrary and unreasonable".

It also claimed that the Supreme Court had in 2014 held that insistence on a sex reassignment surgery for declaring one's gender was illegal and immoral.

The says that the petitioner "routinely faces discrimination on account of the incongruity between self-identified gender and the male identity given at birth".

The petitioner has contended that the guidelines under challenge are "depriving her of the right to live with dignity and to self identify her gender which is different from the one assigned at birth".