Kerala High Court has asked the Bar Council of India why law colleges cannot provide reservation for transgender students, citing examples from medical and engineering colleges. The Court urged BCI to consider issuing a directive for transgender seat allocation.
Kerala High Court has urged the Bar Council of India (BCI) to consider taking steps to reserve some seats in law colleges for transgender students. This development came during the hearing of a petition filed in the case which sought a separate rank list and reservation for transgender candidates in Government Law Colleges across Kerala.
During the hearing on Thursday, Justice N Nagaresh pointed out that many other educational institutions already have reservation for transgender students and questioned why law colleges could not follow the same practice.
The judge asked,
“If in engineering and medical colleges, reservation can be given, why not for law colleges?”
The BCI’s standing counsel, Rajit, explained that most law colleges in Kerala currently have only about 40 seats, which makes it difficult to allocate specific seats for transgender students.
However, the Court urged the BCI to consider issuing a directive to provide some seats for transgender candidates. Justice Nagaresh suggested,
“Rajit, you prevail upon them, you say otherwise an adverse order will come. If everywhere else it can be done, why should Bar Council be adamant? … You can pass an order stating that this year you are giving the additional seats; next year, the seats will be within the 40-seat limit.”
The Court passed an interim order seeking the response of the BCI on this matter by October 16, when the case will be heard next.
The Court also noted that the Kerala State Government has already written to the BCI seeking permission to create two additional seats that could be reserved for transgender students.
The Court’s order stated,
“The government pleader submits that the government, in principle, has decided to provide two supernumerary post in all colleges for admitting the candidates belonging to transgender category. This requires approval of the specialised body and the government of Kerala has addressed a letter to the Bar Council of India seeking permission to create 2 additional seats in each law college. No reply has been received so far. Standing counsel for BCI to get instructions. Post on 16 October,”
The petition was filed by a transgender woman who applied for admission to the integrated five-year LLB course through the Kerala Law Entrance Examination (KLEE) 2025.
Although she qualified and her name was included in the KLEE rank list, she was denied admission to Government Law College, Kozhikode, as no separate category or seat was provided for transgender candidates in the central allotment list issued by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CCE).
The petitioner argued that denying her admission under the transgender category violated her fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India.
She also cited the Supreme Court’s directions in the NALSA judgment and the provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
She has requested the Court to direct the authorities to grant her admission for the 2025-2026 academic year under the transgender reservation category.
Additionally, she seeks the implementation of such reservation for transgender persons in all government law colleges and other educational institutions under the government’s control.
Advocates Raghul Sudheesh, J Lakshmi, Ambily T Venu, Unnikrishnan S Thandayaan, and Umadevi M appeared for the petitioner, while standing counsel Rajit represented the Bar Council of India.
Case Title:
Esai Clara v State of Kerala & Ors.
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