Transgender moves Supreme Court over being denied job as cabin crew

On a petition filed by transgender, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Air India and Civil Aviation Ministry on the ground that she was denied a cabin crew job by the carrier because of her gender.

The bench comprising of Chief Justice of Dipak Mishra and Justice A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued the notice on her plea seeking a direction to consider her candidature for the job.

In the present matter, the petitioner has undergone a “ sex reassignment” surgery in Bangkok after completing her engineering in 2000 and became a woman in April 2014.

She applied for female cabin crew for northeast region as advertised by Air India in July 2017. She received a call letter from Air India and performed well in all the exams despite this she was no shortlisted for the job.

So far the petitioner has taken four attempts but sadly she has not been shortlisted for the position yet even though she fared well in all the tests conducted. The petitioner discovered through sources that she was not been able to make through because of her gender. Since she is a transgender and the vacancy is only for women, therefore, her candidature has been rejected. The petitioner claimed that though she has required qualifications her candidature has been rejected solely because she is a transgender. Post this the petitioner approached the office of Ministry of Civil Aviation to discuss the issue. She has been unable to meet the CMD yet.

The petitioner relied on the Supreme court's judgment in the National Legal Services Authority vs. The Union of India wherein the apex court has recognised the third gender. As per Article 21, everyone has Right to Life and Personal Liberty and as a part of it one can choose its gender identity as well. The matter is listed for further hearing on November 23.