New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought a response of the Centre to a PIL seeking filling up of vacant positions in the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) including that of the Chairperson, the Director General of Investigation and a member. A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and NV Ramana issued notice to the Home Ministry on the plea which said that the NHRC has been functioning without a Chairperson for over six months and has become handicapped due to government's "inaction."
"The Commission cannot function without its Chairperson, member and Director General of Investigation. It has become handicapped due to inaction of the government," the PIL filed by advocate Radhakanta Tripathy said. "The failure of the government in appointing the NHRC Chairman has been affecting the functioning of the Commission, which has a direct bearing on rule of law and administration of justice," it said.
"The vacancies in the NHRC have been continuing as Justice K G Balakrishnan retired on May 11, 2015 as its Chairperson and Satyabrata Pal retired from the Commission on March 1, 2014 as a member," the PIL said adding that Director General of Investigation wing of the NHRC retired on October 31, 2014. The petitioner contended that due to vacant posts in NHRC for a long time, the pendency of cases has been increasing.
"Just after the retirement of the previous Chairperson, there were a total of 40,941 cases pending for final disposal with the NHRC as on June 30, 2015. "As many as 48,448 cases have been pending as per the September estimate of the NHRC. The vacancies are the main reasons for growing pendency in the NHRC. Now a days, in order to get rid of the pressure of pendency, NHRC transfers a large number of cases to the State Human Rights Commissions which are also plagued by problems," it said.
Tripathy said that under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC is supposed to comprise a Chairperson, who has been Chief Justice of India, one member who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court, one Member who is, or has been, the Chief Justice of a High Court and two Members from amongst persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights. "The intent of the statute remains frustrated since the mandatory requirements for appointments of Chairperson, member and Director General of Investigation have not been fulfilled," it said.
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