The Kerala High Court directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to grant approval within ten days for the creation of two additional seats for transgender students in all law colleges across the State. The order was passed by Justice V.G. Arun on October 24, 2025, in a writ petition filed by a 22-year-old transgender woman from Kozhikode, seeking reservation under the transgender category for admission to the Integrated Five-Year LL.B. course at the Government Law College, Kozhikode.
The petitioner, represented by Advocates Raghul Sudheesh, Umadevi M., Ambily T. Venu, Unnikrishnan S. Thandayaan, and J. Lakshmi, argued that despite qualifying in the Kerala Law Entrance Examination (KLEE) 2025 and being legally recognized as a transgender person, she was denied reservation benefits guaranteed under the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and the Supreme Court’s judgment in NALSA v. Union of India, AIR 2014 SC 1863.
The State Government informed the Court that it had already written to the BCI on August 6, 2025, seeking approval to create two supernumerary seats for transgender candidates in all Government law colleges. However, the BCI had not acted on the request, stating that the matter was pending before its General Council.
Observing that the issue cannot wait endlessly for bureaucratic action, Justice Arun issued an interim direction to the BCI to grant the requested approval within ten days and listed the matter for further hearing on November 6, 2025.
Appearances:
Petitioner: M/S.RAGHUL SUDHEESH, UNNIKRISHNAN S. THANDAYAAN, UMADEVI M., AMBILY T. VENU & J.LAKSHMI;
SRI.N.MANOJ KUMAR, STATE ATTORNEY & SRI.P.G.PRAMOD, SENIOR GOVERNMENT PLEADER for R1 to R3;
SRI.P.C.SASIDHARAN, STANDING COUNSEL for R4, SRI.RAJIT, STANDING COUNSEL for Addl.R5.
