Shashi Tharoor Seeks Accountability Over LGBTQIA+ Panel Delay

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has questioned the delay in the functioning of the Centre’s High-Powered Committee constituted to examine issues concerning same-sex couples, alleging that the panel has remained largely inactive for more than two years. The criticism came after the government, in a written reply to an unstarred question raised by Tharoor in the Lok Sabha, disclosed that the committee has met only twice since its formation and has not submitted any recommendation or report.

According to the government’s reply, the committee was constituted following the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Supriyo case, which dealt with legal recognition of same-sex relationships. The reply also stated that the panel’s last meeting was held more than two years ago. The disclosure prompted Tharoor to publicly question the pace of work and the government’s commitment to addressing concerns raised by members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Tharoor said the government’s response revealed both the failure of the committee and a lack of political will to secure meaningful rights for same-sex couples. He noted that despite the passage of more than two years, the committee had neither produced recommendations nor submitted a report. Tharoor argued that such prolonged inactivity had left important issues affecting LGBTQIA+ citizens unresolved.

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He further stated that interim measures and advisories cited by the government could not substitute for substantive legal reform. According to him, advisories do not create enforceable rights or guarantee equal access to housing, employment, healthcare, inheritance, joint financial benefits, next-of-kin recognition, medical decision-making or public services. He said that if the government intended to rely on the committee’s recommendations, it should explain why the panel itself had remained virtually inactive for such a long period.

Tharoor also questioned whether the committee had been constituted primarily to satisfy the Supreme Court rather than to carry forward its mandate in a meaningful manner. “One is compelled to ask: Was the Committee constituted merely to satisfy the Court, with no genuine intention of carrying its mandate forward?” he wrote, adding that the government’s own reply appeared to point in that direction. The Centre has not yet publicly responded to Tharoor’s criticism.

A senior Congress leader and former Union minister, Tharoor has represented the Thiruvananthapuram constituency continuously since 2009. The issue of legal recognition and equal rights for same-sex couples has remained a subject of national debate following the Supreme Court’s 2023 judgment, which declined to legalise same-sex marriage while urging the government to examine administrative and welfare measures for queer couples.

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