The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules, 2020 is a set of subordinate legislation, or provision, notified by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on September 25, 2020, to implement the parent Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. The Rules originated from the need to operationalize the Act, which was passed following the landmark Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) v. Union of India (2014). The NALSA judgment, delivered on April 15, 2014, formally recognized transgender persons as the "third gender" and established that the State must recognize their constitutional right to self-identify their gender.
The Rules primarily establish the mechanism for a transgender person to obtain a Certificate of Identity from the District Magistrate under Section 6 of the Act. For a revised certificate to reflect a change in gender, a person who has undergone medical intervention for gender affirmation may apply under Section 7. The Rules specify that the District Magistrate must verify the medical certificate from the medical institution without conducting any physical examination. Key provisions also include the mandate to constitute a welfare board (Rule 10), establish a Transgender Protection Cell (Rule 11), and draft an Equal Opportunity Policy (Rule 12) to ensure non-discrimination. The Rules connect directly to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019, which also mandates the establishment of the National Council for Transgender Persons (NCTP), constituted on August 21, 2020. The Rules were an attempt to simplify the identity certificate procedure, which was a point of criticism against the original Act.