The National Council for Transgender Persons
Chapter One Hundred Eleven
Syllabus topic 3, "Enforcement of Human Rights"
Pages 541 to 545 of 760
In one line
Sections 16 to 23 create a National Council for Transgender Persons which advises, monitors, reviews and redresses grievances, an offence punishable with six months to two years, and nothing else: no commission, no complaint procedure, no State body and no special court.
Section 16: the National Council
16(1): the Central Government shall by notification constitute a National Council for Transgender Persons to exercise the powers conferred on and perform the functions assigned to it under this Act.
16(2): the composition, which is worth setting out because the criticism is arithmetical.
| Members | Who |
|---|---|
| Chairperson, ex officio | Union Minister in charge of Social Justice and Empowerment |
| Vice-Chairperson, ex officio | Minister of State in that Ministry |
| Member, ex officio | Secretary of that Ministry |
| 10, ex officio | One each from Health and Family Welfare, Home Affairs, Housing and Urban Affairs, Minority Affairs, Human Resources Development, Rural Development, Labour and Employment, Legal Affairs, Pensions and Pensioners Welfare, and the National Institution for Transforming India, not below Joint Secretary |
| 2, ex officio | One each from the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Women, not below Joint Secretary |
| 5, ex officio | Representatives of State Governments and Union territories by rotation, one each from the North, South, East, West and North-East regions |
| 5 | Representatives of the transgender community, by rotation from the States and Union territories, one each from the five regions, nominated by the Central Government |
| 5 | Experts representing non-governmental organisations working for the welfare of transgender persons, nominated by the Central Government |
| Member Secretary, ex officio | Joint Secretary in the Ministry dealing with transgender welfare |
16(3): a member other than an ex officio member holds office for three years from nomination.
Count them. The Council runs to about thirty members, of whom five are transgender persons and every one of those five is nominated by the Central Government. A body constituted to represent a group in which the group holds one seat in six, by nomination, is not representation in any strong sense, and that is the first criticism.
Constitution is mandatory, which is one thing the section does better than the human rights, bonded labour and disability statutes.
Section 17: functions
The National Council shall advise the Central Government on the formulation of policies, programmes, legislation and projects; monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and programmes designed for achieving equality and full participation; review and coordinate the activities of all departments and of governmental and non-governmental organisations; redress the grievances of transgender persons; and perform such other functions as may be prescribed.
Compare this list with section 9 of the minorities Act, section 10 of the women's Act and section 12 of the human rights Act. Every one of those carries a power to inquire into complaints, and three of them carry the powers of a civil court while inquiring. Section 17 carries neither.
The rest of this chapter
Module one is free. The rest of LL.M. Human Rights Law Semester 2 is part of the bundle.
You are reading a chapter from a later module. Everything in module one of every subject stays free, and so does every question paper and the syllabus.
See the semester for ₹798 Already bought it? Sign in
Free either way: question papers, the syllabus, and module one of every subject.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.