An appeal by a senior Hyderabad-based Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer to change her name and gender has been approved by the Union Finance Ministry. This is the first instance of such a change in the history of the Indian civil service.

M Anusuya, currently posted as Joint Commissioner in the office of the Chief Commissioner, Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal at Hyderabad, had requested a change of her name to M Anukathir Surya, and gender from female to male.

The ministry, in its order, stated that the request of the officer had been considered and approved.

"The request of M Anusuya has been considered. Henceforth, the officer will be recognised as 'Mr M Anukathir Surya' in all official records," the order from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, Department of Revenue, said.

The IRS officer started his career as an assistant commissioner in Chennai in 2013 and was promoted to the Deputy Commissioner rank in 2018, Anukathir Surya's LinkedIn profile shows.

Surya did his Bachelor's in Electronics and Communication from the Madras Institute of Technology in Chennai. He then went on to pursue a PG Diploma in Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics from the National Law Institute University.

The development comes almost 10 years after the Supreme Court's ruling in the NALSA case wherein the third gender was recognised. The court said that gender identity was a personal choice.

"There seems to be no reason why a transgender must be denied basic human rights... The Constitution has fulfilled its duty of providing rights to transgenders. Now it's time for us to recognise this and to extend and interpret the Constitution in such a manner as to ensure a dignified life for transgender people. All this can be achieved if the beginning is made with the recognition of a transgender as a third gender," the court observed.

"If a person has changed his/her sex in tune with his/her gender characteristics and perception, which has become possible because of the advancement in medical science, and when that is permitted in medical ethics with no legal embargo, we do not find any impediment, legal or otherwise, in giving due recognition to the gender identity based on the reassign sex after undergoing surgery," the judgement reads.

Source: India Today