In a first, govt allows woman IRS officer to turn man; approves plea for name change

Gender change: In a landmark decision, the government has allowed an IRS officer to officially change her name and gender. M Anusuya, a woman Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer serving as the Joint Commissioner in the regional bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) in Hyderabad, has transitioned to male and will now be known as M Anukathir Surya.

This marks the first case of a sex change in the Indian Civil Services. The Ministry of Finance has accepted Anusuya’s request for a name and gender change. The official order issued by the Ministry of Finance on July 9 states, “The request of Ms M. Anusuya has been considered. Henceforth, the officer will be recognised as ‘Mr  M Anukathir Surya  in all official records.”

The 35-year-old officer, who began current posting last year, started career as an Assistant Commissioner in Chennai in December 2013 and was promoted to Deputy Commissioner in 2018. Surya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication from the Madras Institute of Technology in Chennai and a PG Diploma in Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics from the National Law Institute University in Bhopal, completed in 2023.

This historic decision aligns with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the NALSA case on April 15, 2014, which recognised the third gender and affirmed that gender identity is a personal choice, independent of whether a person undergoes sex reassignment surgery (SRS).