Transgender Persons Act, 2026: Centre Moves SC To Transfer Cases Pending In 4 High Courts

The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking transfer and consolidation of petitions pending in four high courts against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) (Amendment) Act, 2026 , arguing that parallel hearings could lead to conflicting rulings on the law’s constitutional validity.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi , seeking urgent listing of the transfer petitions on Friday. Mehta told the court that several high courts, including Delhi and Rajasthan, were hearing challenges to the amended law and warned of possible “divergent views” on identical constitutional questions.

The Centre has sought transfer of the cases under Article 139A of the Constitution , which empowers the Supreme Court to withdraw and decide matters involving substantially similar legal issues pending before different high courts. The government also said it may request the high courts to defer proceedings once notices are issued.

However, the Chief Justice appeared reluctant to immediately centralise all cases before the apex court, observing that Supreme Court proceedings often benefit from the constitutional reasoning developed by high courts.

The amended law has triggered criticism from human rights activists and LGBTQ+ groups, mainly over the removal of self-identification of gender , a principle recognised in the landmark NALSA judgment of 2014.

Petitioners argue that the law replaces self-identification with medical certification and administrative verification for legal gender recognition, violating rights to equality, dignity, privacy and bodily autonomy under Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre on separate petitions challenging the law but declined to stay its operation.