Spanking new building for headless Rights Panel

CHENNAI: Even as a Rs three-crore worth building is being readied for it, the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission has, in effect, not been operational for most of this month as its chairman Justice A S Venkatachalamoorthy and three members completed their five-year tenure on August 4. The 30-odd complaints that the commission receives daily are merely being registered by the administrative staff of the Commission for want of members to review them.While activists are outraged that no new appointments for the vacant positions have been announced yet, they are also worried over how the new team will reduce the backlog of pending cases that number over 5,000. This is because the government will now appoint only two members, apart from the chairman, as against the three members who were functioning so far. The reduction in the number follows an amendment made to the Human Rights Act in 2006, a few months after the previous batch of four members and one chairman were appointed in the State.The amendment stipulated that one member with experience in human rights and a judge of a high court or district court be appointed along with the chairman, as against two members each that the principal Human Rights Act 1993 stated. The Commission, which had a total of four members and a chairman since 2006 August, did not appoint another member after Justice Thangaraj’s term ended in 2008, reducing the total membership to three besides the Chairman. Now, it will be further reduced to two.“We have been demanding a transparent process in appointment of members to the SHRC. Also,  the government should invite applications from persons with knowledge and experience in human rights,” said Henri Tiphagne, executive director, People’s Watch, and National Secretary of the All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National and State Human Rights Institutions (AiNNI). The network has sent a letter to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa regarding the same.The appointment of members to the SHRC is to be made by the Governor, based on recommendations made by a committee comprising the CM, Speaker, Home Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. Though a meet was held, no appointments have been made as yet, Henri noted.