Telangana High Court directs govt to apprise on appointment of HRC chief & members after two weeks

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court’s division bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N V Shravan Kumar, on Tuesday directed the State government to apprise the court, as to by which date it will appoint the chairperson and members to the Human Rights Commission. The HRC is dysfunctional since December 22 last year due to non-appointment of the chairperson and members.

The bench was adjudicating the PIL filed by Advocate Adnan Mahmood from Secunderabad seeking directions to the government to fill the vacant posts under section 22 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, as amended by Act 19 of 2019.

The bench recorded the contents of the communication sent by the State Chief Secretary dated September 29, 2023 through Harender Prasad, special government pleader. The CS communique said the government has commenced the process of appointing the HRC chairperson and members. Four applications have been received for the post of chairperson, 10 and 64 applications respectively have been received for the post of member (judicial) as well as member (non-judicial). The applications have to be screened and a decision has to be taken for the final appointment by the committee.

The committee, which has to take a final call, after screening, on the appointment of the above officials, comprises the Chief Minister, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Leader of the Opposition, in-charge minister, Ministry of Cooperation, Minister for Home.

While communicating the contents to the CJ court, Prasad sought four weeks’ time to apprise the court on the status of the appointments, which was vehemently opposed by the counsel for the petitioner.

The counsel, while opposing the State request, informed the court that the HRC posts have been vacant for the last ten months; the government is again seeking time to inform the status of the appointments. The counsel said now the State is seeking four weeks’ time; later it will come before the court and cite the election code in vogue, delimitation works in progress, which will further delay the appointments.

After hearing the contentions of the counsel for the petitioner and the SGP, the CJ expressed deep concern and observed “what if the human rights are violated in this interregnum.. the State should fix a time frame in making such appointments”.

The bench granted two weeks’ time to the State, directing it to apprise the court, the latest development on the appointments.