AHRC a 'headless chicken' since 2016

366 rights violation cases piled up

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 12: How come one expects people around him/her work within their rights when the State Human Rights Commission has been literally ‘a headless chicken’ since December 1, 2016? 

This startling revelation was made by State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary while replying to a query from MLA zrul Haque on behalf of the Home Minister in the Assembly on Monday.

What is even more bizarre is that as many as 366 cases have been piled up in the rights body without being disposed off – while 137 cases have been pending due to non-availability of division benches, 299 cases are being tried by the lone one-man bench. 

Patowary let the House know that the State Judicial Department had left no stone unturned to get a candidate to head the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) as its chairman, but to little avail. “The Department did request the Gauhati High Court to me a retired high court chief justice to head the AHRC as its chairperson. However, the high court let the department know the lack of any such candidates. The department then sent a similar request to all the Home Departments of the States in the country to me a retired high court chief justice who is keen to head the AHRC as its chairperson. That too yielded no positive response. The department then sent a request to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for a retired high court judge to head the AHRC. If the effort pays off, we can appoint the chairperson in the State rights body.”