Chandigarh: The Haryana Human Rights Commission has been functioning without a chairman for 19 months and without any member for the last 14 months. Following a PIL filed in this matter in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, after the court gave strict directions to the state government, names of possible candidates for filling the posts of Chairman and two members of the Commission and the above. Three To select the final names for the posts, a meeting on this issue was held between Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Haryana Assembly Speaker Harvindra Kalyan, but the leader of opposition in the Assembly could not attend , although he is also a member of this committee. Let us tell you that even after a month and a half since the formation of the present 15th Haryana Assembly, the largest Congress legislative party in the House, with 37 members, has not elected its leader, so the Speaker Assembly has made that elected leader the leader of the opposition. The granting of status is also pending.
The appointment is made on the basis of the recommendation of a four-member committee.
However, according to section 22(1) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 enacted by the Indian Parliament, under which the National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commission are constituted in all states , the Chairman and members of the State Human Rights Commission is appointed by the Governor of the state after receiving recommendations from a four-member committee in which the Chief Minister of the state is the chairman, while the other three members of the committee include the Speaker of the State. Assembly, the Home Minister of the state and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. Are. Now, since in the current Nayab Saini government of Haryana, the state Home Department also reports to the Chief Minister, so the said committee in Haryana becomes three members.
Citing Section 22(2), experts said the appointment will not be illegal in the absence of any member of the committee.
While the issue of opposition leader’s absence i.e. his absence from the committee is of concern, Advocate Hemant Kumar of Punjab and Haryana High Court gave important information in this regard.
He said that in Article 22(2) it is clearly mentioned that the appointment of the Chairman and members of the State Human Rights Commission shall not be invalid merely because there is a vacancy in the said committee. Let it be known that former Haryana Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice SK Mittal’s (retired) five-year term ended 19 months ago on April 22, 2023. Mittal, who retired as Chief Justice , was appointed as the chairman of the commission in April 2018. Along with him, Justice KC was appointed as a member (judicial) of the Commission. Puri’s (retired) five-year term also ended in April 2023. However, another member of the Commission with non-judicial experience, namely Deep Bhatia, was appointed on September 20, 2018 for a five-year term. years, who continued to hold the position for a period of five years until May 11, 2023 and thereafter for 12 years. Bhatia also served as acting chairman of the commission from 2023 till September 19, 2023. Regarding the latest legal provisions related to the appointment of the chairman and members of the State Human Rights Commission, Hemant said that five years ago, the country’s Parliament made some amendments to The Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 and all such amended provisions came into force on August 2. They came into force from 2019 and under the amended Section 24, the tenure of the Chairman and members of the State Human Rights Commission, which was earlier five years, will be reduced to three years. or until the President/members reach the age of 70. Until, whichever comes first. Although the Chairman and members of the State Human Rights Commission can also be re-elected before the age limit of 70 years, after expiry of their tenure, they will not be eligible for any further employment (appointment) under the State Government. or the Government of India. Apart from this, after the amendment of Article 21 (2) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 by the statutory amendment of 2019, there is now a provision according to which the Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission not only may be the retired Chief Justice of the High Court, but may also be a retired judge of the High Court
At the meeting held on Saturday no decision could be made, the court is also angry
There is a problem in the appointment of members and the chairman of the Human Rights Commission due to the absence of an opposition leader. The Supreme Court is also very angry over the lack of appointments in the Commission for a long time. For the first time, a search committee meeting was held at the Haryana residence on Saturday where a few names were discussed in the presence of Chief Minister Nayab Saini and Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan. No Congress MP attended the meeting, while opposition leaders are also participating in the search committee. Since Congress, the main opposition party, has not yet been able to elect the legislative party leader, the post of opposition leader is vacant. At the meeting, ideas were exchanged about some names for the position of President and two other members of the Commission, but the matter could not be finalized. After the meeting, Assembly Speaker Harvinder Kalyan said that the process of appointing the chairperson and members of the Human Rights Commission has already been going on for a long time. No one from the opposition attended this meeting, so no one’s name could be finalized for the vacant positions on the Commission. The Punjab-Haryana High Court has expressed displeasure over the stalled work in the Human Rights Commission in Haryana due to the absence of a chairperson and a member. If the posts are not filled till the next hearing, the concerned officer will have to personally appear before the court and pay Rs 50,000 from his own pocket to the petitioner as cost of the case.
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