Former Chief Justice of India, U U Lalit, expressed his opinion on Thursday, stating that the LGBTQ community is not entitled to "vertical" reservations akin to those provided for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), or Economically Weaker Section (EWS). However, he suggested that they could potentially claim "horizontal" reservations, similar to those available for women and individuals with disabilities.
Justice Lalit, who retired as the 49th Chief Justice of India in November 2022, made these remarks during a question and answer session following a special lecture on 'Affirmative Action and Constitution of India' at the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER).
In response to a query about the LGBTQ community's inclusion in constitutional affirmative action/reservation, Justice Lalit acknowledged the theoretical possibility but presented a counterargument. He emphasized that unlike birth-based communities like SC, ST, or OBC, sexual orientation is a matter of personal choice for individuals. While recognizing the accident of birth for those born as a third gender, he noted that most LGBTQ individuals make a conscious choice regarding their orientation.
Justice Lalit stated that despite the chosen nature of sexual orientation for many in the LGBTQ community, there might be a future consideration for them to be part of affirmative action to some extent. He distinguished between "vertical reservation" for SCs, STs, and OBCs, where individuals cannot belong to more than one category, and "horizontal reservation" for women, physically disabled people, and potentially the LGBTQ category. Horizontal reservations allow individuals to be part of multiple categories without increasing the total size of the reservation quota.
However, he emphasized that the decision to consider LGBTQ as a horizontal reservation category would be a matter for Parliament to deliberate upon, highlighting that such considerations should be subject to due legislative processes.
(With Agency Inputs)
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