Acknowledging that the current rules do not allow the enrollment of transgenders, National Cadet Corps (NCC) Director General (DG) Lt Gen Tarun Kumar Aich on Friday said that the organisation would need to take the decision at the apex level, reported ANI.

“We follow rules which govern our intake and presently only male and female are classified as genders. We don’t have the clause to enroll a ‘transgender’. I can’t comment if it can happen or not, it’s a decision that has to be taken at the apex level,” Lt Gen Aich told ANI.

“But it has been given by the Supreme Court in 2014 and the apex court has said that there is a third gender also but presently our rules do not permit it,” he said.

“As you will appreciate and agree with me that you cannot have a boy, girl, and a transgender community or category because you need numbers of them (transgenders) and you will need a totally different dynamics all together so present conditions do not permit us,” he added.

When asked about whether in the future it would be possible for NCC to have transgenders, Aich said that the decision would be taken at the apex level because it “encompasses all the uniformed forces.”

“We’d welcome the decision to make the National Cadet Corps compulsory but as we all understand, the only problem is money. There’s no dearth of youth in our country but it’s not sustainable economically to be run as a free institution,” he added.