Madras High Court: In a petition filed for directing the State to effect publication of name and gender change to male, female or transgender in the official gazette without insisting on production of a medical certificate indicating completion of Sex Reassignment Surgery or the third gender identity card issued by the Department of Social Welfare in compliance with the directions of the Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, (2014) 5 SCC 438 the division bench of Sanjay V. Gangapurwala*, C.J., and Sathya Narayana Prasad, J. said that only for publication of the change of name or gender, the identity card issued by the Social Welfare Department may not be necessary and shall not be insisted upon. However, to prove identity, the Government can ask for other authentic documents such as the Aadhar Card or other documents which are sufficient for the proof of identity.
The Court noted that Rule 6 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020, deals with the procedure for issue of a certificate of identity for change of gender and under Rule 7, the certificate of identity is issued.
The Court said that the Government has already issued an Order for doing away with the medical certificate endorsing Sex Reassignment Surgery. Now self-declaration is sufficient. The Court noted that the status report filed by State suggested that documentary proof of the individual’s name, date of birth and father’s name along with the identity card issued to them by Tamil Nadu Government’s Social Welfare Department (‘Department’) is required to be submitted for the purpose of publishing the change of name and gender in Tamil Nadu Government Gazette.
The Court said that no doubt, the name, date of birth and father’s name can be submitted by the persons. If a person is desirous of availing the benefit of social welfare schemes, then the person will have to produce the identity card issued to them by the Department of the Government. However, only for publication of the change of name or gender, the said identity card issued by the Social Welfare Department may not be necessary and shall not be insisted upon. However, to prove identity the Government can ask for other authentic documents such as the Aadhar Card or other documents which are sufficient for the proof of identity.
[Sivakumar TD v. State of Tamil Nadu, 2024 SCC OnLine Mad 574, Order dated 04-04-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: Advocate B. Poongkhulali
For the Respondents: State Government Pleader A. Edwin Prabakar, Advocate Adhilakshmi Logamurthy
