The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the Bar Council of India (BCI) to approve two seats for transgender students in all law colleges across the state. Justice V.G. Arun issued the interim order while hearing a petition seeking to expedite the decision on the proposal, which had been pending before the BCI.
The court observed that the matter could not be kept waiting indefinitely for the Council to act. During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel informed the court that at an earlier session, the BCI had been directed to finalise a date for holding its General Council meeting to decide on the matter. However, the BCI’s standing counsel told the court that the proposal was placed before the Standing Committee for Legal Education, which, after deliberation, decided that the final call must be taken by the General Council.
The standing counsel added that it was not possible to say when the next meeting of the General Council would be held. Taking note of this delay, Justice Arun remarked, “In my opinion, the issue cannot wait endlessly for the General Council of the Bar Council to meet.” Accordingly, the court issued an interim direction to the BCI to approve the Kerala Government’s request, communicated through a letter dated August 6, for the creation of two seats for transgender students across all law colleges in the state.
The court also instructed that the approval should be given within ten days of receiving a copy of the order. The directive came while hearing a petition filed by a transgender woman who was denied admission to Government Law College, Kozhikode, despite qualifying in the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations’ Kerala Law Entrance Examination (KLEE) 2025. The petitioner also cited the landmark NALSA v. Union of India judgment and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, in support of her claim.