Former CJI UU Lalit (Photo: PTI)
Former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit on Thursday said the LGBTQ community has no right to claim “vertical” reservations like those given to the Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) or the economically weaker section. (EWS).
However, he said they can claim a “horizontal” reservation, similar to that for women and persons with disabilities.
Justice Lalit, who retired as the 49th CJI in November 2022, was answering a question during the question and answer session after delivering a special lecture on ‘Affirmative Action and Constitution of India’ at the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER) here.
When asked if the LGBTQ community will ever come under the purview of constitutional affirmative action/reservation, he said, “Theoretically, yes, but when I give the counter argument, not to minimize the idea, but to see that my birth in a community like SC, ST or OBC is something beyond my capabilities, while sexual orientation is my choice.”
“It is not forced on me as an accident of birth. So it is not because of my sexual orientation that I am deprived of anything. Someone who is born as a third gender is a matter of accident of birth and there the positive action is a Yes , but for most of the LGBTQ community, the orientation is their own choice,” he said.
The former CJI said the community members adopted it as a choice.
“Still, I don’t think there would be any denial of the idea that perhaps they could also be part of affirmative action to some extent in the future,” he said.
He said the reservation that the Constitution has recognized for SCs, STs and OBCs is a “vertical reservation”, meaning an SC cannot be an ST or OBC and vice versa.
“These types of reservations are for vertically separated compartments. There are also horizontal reservations such as those for women and the physically challenged, and similarly, the LGBTQ can be a horizontal reservation category,” he added.
Horizontal reservations mean taking a chunk out of the individual vertical column without increasing the overall size of the reservation quota, the former CJI pointed out.
“Like a woman can be an open category or can be a SC, ST or OBC or EWS. The horizontal category traverses horizontally without increasing the total size of the reservation. In the same way, perhaps this LGBTQ category can also be a horizontal category of reservation. But that is a matter for Parliament to consider. There is nothing wrong with considering a certain group as a group,” he stated.
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First print: January 11, 2024 | 11:53 PM IST