Wednesday is World Human Rights Day but the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has little reason to celebrate. Established in 2001 to investigate alleged rights violations by employees, it has a backlog of more than 15,000 cases.
The backlog of cases stood at 3,044 in 2010-'11, but skyrocketed to 10,627 in 2012-'13 when not a single case was disposed off.
The primary reason for this enormous backlog is the delay in appointing members to the commission. From February 2012 to September 2013, the commission had neither members nor a chairperson. Even today, one of the two member positions is vacant.
Even when members have been appointed, the government’s nominees have not always inspired confidence. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, under which the commission has been established states that “one member is to be appointed from persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights”. However, the government has interpreted this to mean that retired bureaucrats are to be appointed regardless of whether they have human rights expertise.
In 2011, an IAS officer appointed to the commission had to resign after his name was linked with the Adarsh Society scam relating to an illegal building. Recently, an IPS officer has been appointed to the commission even though most of the complaints that it handles are against the police.
More alarming, a research officer of the commission in May filed a complaint against a member, claiming that he had ill-treated her because she is Dalit.
Exact recent data regarding complaints is difficult to access since the only annual report issued by the commission was in 2001-’02.
But the panel's chairman, Justice SR Bannurmath, said that he has been making an effort to reduce the number of pending cases ever since he took charge in September last year. He has also ordered that annual reports be prepared.
However, with one post of member vacant and a shortage of administrative staff, it won’t be an easy task.
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The backlog of cases stood at 3,044 in 2010-'11, but skyrocketed to 10,627 in 2012-'13 when not a single case was disposed off.
The primary reason for this enormous backlog is the delay in appointing members to the commission. From February 2012 to September 2013, the commission had neither members nor a chairperson. Even today, one of the two member positions is vacant.
Even when members have been appointed, the government’s nominees have not always inspired confidence. The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, under which the commission has been established states that “one member is to be appointed from persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights”. However, the government has interpreted this to mean that retired bureaucrats are to be appointed regardless of whether they have human rights expertise.
In 2011, an IAS officer appointed to the commission had to resign after his name was linked with the Adarsh Society scam relating to an illegal building. Recently, an IPS officer has been appointed to the commission even though most of the complaints that it handles are against the police.
More alarming, a research officer of the commission in May filed a complaint against a member, claiming that he had ill-treated her because she is Dalit.
Exact recent data regarding complaints is difficult to access since the only annual report issued by the commission was in 2001-’02.
But the panel's chairman, Justice SR Bannurmath, said that he has been making an effort to reduce the number of pending cases ever since he took charge in September last year. He has also ordered that annual reports be prepared.
However, with one post of member vacant and a shortage of administrative staff, it won’t be an easy task.