The Hindu : National : Court seeks Centre's affidavit on NHRC appointment

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Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004

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National

Court seeks Centre's affidavit on NHRC appointment

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 27. The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to file an affidavit within two days giving details of the consultation process it had followed in the appointment of the former CBI director, P. C. Sharma, as a member of the National Human Rights Commission in February.

A Bench, comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice D.M. Dharmadhikari, gave this direction to the Solicitor General, G.E. Vahanvati, after it was pointed out by Rajinder Sachar, senior counsel for the petitioner, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), that consultation with the Leader of the Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament had not taken place in the appointment of Mr. Sharma.

Mr. Vahanvati and Gopal Subramaniam, senior counsel, who also appeared for the Centre, submitted that consultation had taken place in the appointment and all the relevant files would be produced before the court, if necessary. They told the Court that there had been consultation with the Leaders of Opposition in both Houses of Parliament and other procedural formalities were fully complied with.

The Bench, however, noted that there was not even a whisper about consultation in the counter affidavit filed earlier by the Government. It, therefore, asked the Union Home Secretary to file an affidavit giving complete details of the consultation process and directed listing of the matter to August 10 for further hearing. The PUCL questioned the decision of the Government to appoint the former CBI Director as member of the NHRC on the ground that appointment of a police officer in the human rights body would affect the faith of the people in its freedom and fairness to adjudicate human rights violation cases.

The petitioner contended that the convention in the appointment of a member of the NHRC had been violated as the Chairperson, Justice A. S. Anand, was not consulted.

It pointed out that earlier, Mr. Justice Anand had not agreed with a Government proposal to appoint an IPS officer as member of the NHRC.

It submitted that the appointment of a member could be done only after obtaining the recommendations of a committee, comprising the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and on the date when Mr. Sharma was appointed on February 20, there was no Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (since it was dissolved).

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