National Human Rights Commission of India

National Human Rights Commission
राष्ट्रीय मानवाधिकार आयोग
Agency overview
Formed 12th October 1993
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Federal agency India
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters New Delhi, India
Agency executives
  • Justice H. L. Dattu, Chairman
  • Satynarayan Mohanty, Secretary General
Website
Official website

The Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous public body constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28 September 1993.[1] It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (TPHRA).[2] The NHRC is the national human rights commission, responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights, defined by the Act as "rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants".

"Human Rights" means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the constitution or embodied in the International covenants and enforceable by courts in India. "Commission" means the National Human Rights Commission constituted under section of All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights known as Human rights, as commonly understood, are the rights that every human being is entitled to enjoy freely irrespective of his religion, race, caste, sex and nationality, etc. (Jagdish chand, 2007) In Declaration of Independence acknowledged the fundamental human rights. Human right means different thing to different people. Human Rights are not static. New rights are recognized and enforced from time to time. Only persons fully conversant with the latest development about the expanding horizons of Human Rights can promote their awareness better than others.

Functions

TPHRA mandates the NHRC to perform the following functions:[2]

By-Chintu khangembam

Composition

The NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) consists of:

Chairman and Members

The chairman of the NHRC is Justice Shri H.L. Dattu and the other members are:[3]

Ex-officio members:

State Human Rights Commission

A State Government may constitute a body known as the Human Rights Commission of that State to exercise the powers conferred upon, and to perform the functions assigned to, a State Commission. In accordance to the amendment brought in TPHRA,1993[4] point No.10 below is the list[5] of State Human Rights Commissions formed to perform the functions of the commission as stated under chapter V of TPHRA,1993 (with amendment act 2006). At present, 24 states have constituted SHRC[6]

State Commission City Date constituted
Assam Human rights Commission Guwahati 19 January 1996
Andhra Pradesh State Human rights Commission Hyderabad ®2 August 2006@
Bihar Human rights Commission Patna 3 January 2000
Chhattisgarh Human Rights Commission Raipur 16 April 2001
Gujarat State Human Rights Commission[7] Gandhinagar 12 September 2006
Goa Human Rights Commission Panaji --
Himachal Pradesh State Human rights Commission Shimla --
Jammu and Kashmir Sri Nagar
Kerala State Human Rights Commission Thiruvananthapuram 11 December 1998
Karnataka State Human Rights Commission Bangalore 28 June 2005
Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission Bhopal 1 September 1995
Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission Mumbai 6 March 2001
Manipur State Human Rights Commission Imphal --
Odisha Human rights Commission Bhubaneswar 27 January 2000
Punjab Human Rights Commission Chandigarh --
Rajasthan State Human rights Commission Jaipur 18 January 1999
State Human Rights Commission Tamil Nadu Chennai 17 April 1997
Uttar Pradesh Human Rights Commission Lucknow 7 October 2002
West Bengal Human Rights Commission Kolkata 8 January 1994
Jharkhand State Human Rights Commission Ranchi --
Sikkim State Human Rights Commission Gangtok 18 October 2008
Uttarakhand Human Rights Commission Dehradun 13 May 2013
Haryana Human Rights Commission Chandigarh --
Tripura Human rights Commission Agartala --

Appointment

Sections 3 and 4 of TPHRA lay down the rules for appointment to the NHRC. The Chairperson and members of the NHRC are appointed by the President of India, on the recommendation of a committee consisting of:

Former chairpersons

Sr
No 		Name Tenure
1. Justice Ranganath Misra 12 October 1993 - 24 November 1996
2. Justice M N Venkatachaliah 26 November 1996 - 24 October 1999
3. Justice J S Verma 4 November 1999 - 17 January 2003
4. Justice A S Anand 17 February 2003 - 31 October 2006
5. Justice S. Rajendra Babu 2 April 2007 - 31 May 2009
6. Justice K G Balakrishnan 7 June 2010 - 11 May 2015
7. Justice H.L. Dattu 29 Feb-2016

Acting Chairpersons

International status

The NHRC has been accredited with "A status" by the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (the ICC), indicating that it is in conformity with the Paris Principles – a broad set of principles agreed upon by a conference of experts on the promotion and protection of human rights, in Paris in October 1991, and subsequently endorsed by the UN General Assembly. The Commission is thus entitled to participate in the ICC and in its regional sub-group, the Asia Pacific Forum, and may take part in certain sessions of the UN human rights committees.

Controversy

A report concerning the manner of which the Shivani Bhatnagar murder controversy case was rejected, a case which involved high-ranking officials being implicated in the murder of a journalist, opened the organisation up to questioning over the usefulness of human rights commissions set up by the government at the national and state levels.[8]

In mid-2011, the chairman of the NHRC, ex-Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan came under a cloud for allegedly owning assets disproportionate to his income.[9] His son-in-law P. V. Srinijan, an Indian National Congress politician, had to resign for suddenly coming into possession of land worth Rs. 25 lakhs.[10] Many prominent jurists, including former CJ J. S. Verma, SC ex-Judge V. R. Krishna Iyer, noted jurist Fali S. Nariman, former NHRC member Sudarshan Agrawal and prominent activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, have called on Balakrishnan's resignation pending from the HRC pending inquiry.[11] In February 2012, the Supreme Court inquired of the government regarding the status of the inquiry.[12]

HRC's recommendations

NHRC held that 16 out of 19 police encounters with suspected maoists in Guntur and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh, prior to 2002 were fake and recommended to Government payment of compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the families.[13]

References

External links

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