Justice Tapobrata Chakraborty of Calcutta High Court today directed the West Bengal Health University to accept the admission form of Alia Sheikh by 2,00 p.m today. The matter will come up for next hearing on 2 December. Alia, who was present in the court today, said that she had been given an admission form which had no mention of OBC category. She had been asked to take admission under third gender category, she said.
The university counsel submitted that admission of Alia can be given but there is no OBC category yet. The court directed that her admission be completed by 2.00 p.m today. The university counsel said that steps in this regard were taken after the court heard a petition of Alia Sheikh, a psychology post graduate and trans-female who contended that the admission form only provided male and female option and did not specify any reservation of seats for transpersons.
Alia had moved court seeking to apply for M Phil course in clinical psychology which had a28 November deadline. The university counsel said that changes have been already made. The M Phil in clinical psychology course of Calcutta University has 12 seats, of which one is reserved for other backward classes. Alia’s counsel submitted that other socially backward groups be also treated as OBCs and given OBC certificate. Alia’s counsel said that the court had asked CU on Wednesday on the part of his client’s petition in which it was stated that the university should allocate a fixed number of seats for trans persons following the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.
The university submitted that state govenment has no quota for trans persons. The trans persons were entitled to reservation in education and public employment as a socially and educationally backward class, according to the 2014 NALSA judgement. It directed the government to make provision for these persons.