Chennai: A Chennai resident has moved the Madras High Court, seeking to declare passport rules which require submission of Sex Reassignment Surgery certificate for gender determination as “unconstitutional”, saying they violate Article 21 of the Constitution that deals with personal liberty.

A division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee issued notice to Union Ministries of Law and Justice and External Affairs, returnable by December 12, on the petition of Sivakumar TD.

The petitioner, who has been actively involved in furthering the interests of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) community, referred to a Supreme Court judgment relating to

the rights of transgenders in the plea.

He said the judgment had authoritatively held that any insistence for Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) for declaring one’s gender was ‘immoral’ and ‘illegal’.

The judgment also held that a person’s right to choose and express a gender identity fell within the ambit of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

Alluding to Passport Rules 1980, with reference to change of sex in their passport and list of documents to be provided, Sivakumar said Rule 39 sought from an applicant certification from the hospital where the sex change surgery was performed.

He contended that the rule was illegal and unconstitutional.

Highlighting the plight of transgender people who applied for passports as late as 2016, the petitioner said though the apex court had laid down clear directives that insistence on SRS certificate was illegal, they were required to produce a medical certificate for it.

He submitted that world over insistence on SRS certificate was held to be ‘unnecessary’ and ‘violative’ of the choice of the individual.

The petitioner sought the intervention of the high court to declare passport rules requiring production of SRS certificate as unconstitutional and being violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.

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The Madras High Court has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to give Rs. 25 lakh as compensation to a woman from Sattur in Virudhunagar, who has transfused with HIV-positive blood at a government hospital. This is in addition to a previous order from the High Court which directed authorities to construct a house and provide a permanent job for the victim.

In December 2018, the 23-year-old pregnant woman had undergone a blood transfusion at the Sattur government hospital, only to discover that the donated blood carried the HIV virus. It was alleged that the blood bank staff failed to properly screen the donated blood. Following this, multiple public interest litigations (PILs) were filed in court demanding compensation for the victim’s physical and mental trauma. The order was finally passed by a division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice SS Sundar. A batch of three cases related to the issue were clubbed together by the court.

In their order, the judges said, “The State shall pay a sum of Rs.25 lakhs by way of compensation to the victim, Tmt.Muthu. Out of the said sum of Rs.25 lakhs, a sum of Rs.10 lakhs shall be deposited in an interest bearing fixed deposit for a period of three years in any Nationalised bank in the name of the victim. The remaining sum of Rs.15 lakha shall be deposited in the joint name of her two minor children and the said sum will be in fixed deposit till the minors attain majority. The victim is entitled to withdraw interest accrued only out of the amount deposited in her account.”

The court then reiterated its previous order from April 2019, and directed the government to allocate additional funds to construct a house for the victim.

The court further set guidelines for recruitment of blood bank employees and for tests conducted on samples.

“All the posts, particularly, the post of Counselor, Lab Technicians, Blood Bank Technicians, Supervisors and Staff Nurses shall be filled up by TANSACS or SBTC in connection with Blood Banks, and AIDS Control programme in the State shall be filled up by following the recruitment process recommended by NACO, particularly, with regard to the educational qualification and other eligibility criteria,” ordered the bench.

In addition to this, the government has been directed to constitute an expert body for the purpose of evolving a foolproof mechanism/procedure to collect, test and preserve blood units. This is to prevent recurrence of transfusion of infected blood at private and government hospitals in the future.

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