Rights commission gets Chairman after 19 months

In a huge relief to litigants, the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) has finally got its Chairman after 19 months, and members after 14 months.

Justice Lalit Batra, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, will be the Chairman while Kuldip Jain, a former District and Sessions Judge, will be the judicial member and Deep Bhatia a non-judicial member. It would be the second tenure for Bhatia, who retired after his five-year tenure ended in September last year.

A notification was issued by Anurag Rastogi, Additional Chief Secretary (Home), under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, after Governor Bandaru Dattatreya approved the recommendations of the high-level committee headed by the Chief Minister.

A meeting of the committee, headed by CM Nayab Singh Saini, on November 23, recommended three names to the Governor. The meeting was attended by Speaker Harvinder Kalyan.

Since there is no Leader of the Opposition (LoP) currently, the meeting was held in the absence of LoP, who is also a member of the committee.

After inconvenience to the litigants, a Kaithal resident had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court pleading for the filling of vacancies in the commission. The court had rapped the state government for the inordinate delay in making the appointments.

The five-year tenure of the previous Chairman, Justice SK Mittal, ended on April 22, 2023. Mittal was appointed Chairman, along with a judicial member, Justice KC Puri, whose five-year term also ended in April last year.

The tenure of the HHRC Chairman and members is currently three years, or till 70 years, whichever is earlier. “Although the Chairman and the members are eligible for re-appointment, they would not be eligible for further employment under the Central or state government after retirement,” said Hemant Kumar, an advocate.

CM-led panel recommended names

• A high-level committee comprising the CM and Speaker recommended names to Governor

• As there is no Leader of Opposition, committee finalised names in his/her absence

• There was no Chairman since April 23, 2023

• Commission had no members since September 19, 2023