<P> (1) Hijras, eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature . </P> <P> (2) Transgender persons' right to decide their self - identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender . </P> <P> In B. Prabhakara Rao vs. State of A.P. involved sudden reduction in age of superannuation from 58 years to 55 years of over 35,000 public servants of State Government, public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, educational institutions and Tirupathi - Tirumalai Devasthanams (TTD). They lost first round of litigation in the Supreme Court . Realising the mistake, fresh legislation was brought restoring the original age of superannuation of 58 years but providing that the benefit of new legislation would not extend to those whose reduction of age of superannuation had been upheld . In challenge to this law, Subodh Markandeya argued that all that was required was to strike down naughty "not"--which found favour with the Supreme Court bringing relief to over 35,000 public servants . </P> <P> 2008 saw the Supreme Court embroiled in several controversies, from serious allegations of corruption at the highest level of the judiciary, expensive private holidays at the tax payers expense, refusal to divulge details of judges' assets to the public, secrecy in the appointments of judges', to refusal to make information public under the Right to Information Act . The Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan invited a lot of criticism for his comments on his post not being that of a public servant, but that of a constitutional authority . He later went back on this stand . The judiciary has come in for serious criticisms from former Presidents of India Pratibha Patil and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for failure in handling its duties . Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has stated that corruption is one of the major challenges facing the judiciary, and suggested that there is an urgent need to eradicate this menace . </P>

Qualifications to become a supreme court judge in india