Andhra Pradesh: Seetharama Murthy launches SHRC office in Kurnool, thanks CM

The office of the State Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Kurnool was inaugurated by its chairman Justice M Seetarama Murthy on Wednesday. He later spoke to the media and thanked Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the ministers for setting up the Human Rights Commission. Due to time constraints, a temporary office has been set up at the Kurnool State Guest House. The chairman said he would receive complaints online in the wake of the covid third wave threat.

The Andhra Pradesh government issued a notification last week specifying the location of the State Human rights Commission office at Kurnool modifying the previous decision to set up the HRC office in Vijayawada. The decision to set up SHRC in Kurnool has come after the High Court clarified that the state government has the prerogative to set up the State Human Rights Commission (HRC) anywhere in the state.

The court said It cannot tell the government where to set up the HRC. However, the High Court clearly stated that a Rights Commission should be set up in our state territory and not in Telangana. Meanwhile, the High Court on Tuesday heard a petition challenging the shifting of Lokayukta and SHRC to Kurnool and refused to stay. The Advocate General S Sriram in his argument had informed the court that the AP State government filed a counter on the issue in a similar petition filed earlier. He said Gazette had been issued for shifting Lokayukta to Kurnool.