Chennai: At least 50 transgenders have applied for the 15,000 plus vacancies of police constables, firemen and jail warders for which the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB) would conduct a written examination on May 21 (Sunday).

Tamil Nadu became the first State to open the gates for the third gender to join its police force this year. Of the 6.32 lakh applications received, 50 were from transgenders, reported The Hindu.

Over 1.5 lakh women candidates have also applied for the recruitment that is being held after a long gap of five years. The State police is plagued by a vacancy of about 21,000 police personnel, mostly in the constabulary ranks, sources in the police headquarters said.

The transgenders were given the option to apply under the male, female or third gender category. Those seeking to be a male candidate would have to meet the physical standards set for that category while candidates seeking to be considered as female or third gender would have to meet the physical standards set for women applicants.

The process of recruitment is expected to be completed by August this year. Though about 10 lakh applications were sold, only 6.32 applications were received, the sources said.

As regards community reservation, transgender applicants would be brought under the Most Backward Classes category by default based on a Government Order to that effect. There was no clarity on the decision to be taken when a transgender candidate makes a claim that he/she was a Dalit, the sources said.

Hall tickets online

For the first time, the TNUSRB has decided to issue hall tickets online. A link would be hosted from midnight on Wednesday on its official websitewww.tnusrb.tn.gov.in, enabling candidates to enter their application number and download the hall tickets.

TNUSRB would not send hall tickets by post and all candidates would have to download the hall tickets to write the examination to be held in 410 centres across the State.

A private IT firm was roped in to assist the agency to host hall tickets on its website.