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| Too loud over human rights, NC-Cong coalition unable to make SHRC functional | | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Aug 14: While State Accountability Commission (SAC) will go defunct on August 18, more than a month has passed with NC-Congress coalition Government struggling to make headless State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) functional.
Non-seriousness of the State Government reflects from the fact that even the Adhoc which was being headed by a National Conference (NC) card holder Rafiq Fida no longer exists yet the two coalition partners are busy in theatrics, caring a little about an important institution having gone to dogs. Meetings are being planned by the Law department for appointing members to the commission but the two coalition partners are shying away to come across the table after having remained together for more than five years and 8 months.
Law department sources said that they have prepared a panel of probables and are awaiting nod from the Chief Minister's Office for fixing dates for holding the meeting. They added that apart from Chief Minister who would be heading the committee, other members include Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Chairman of the Legislative Council and Leader of the Opposition in the legislative Assembly.
Act stipulates that in the absence of Leader of the Opposition i.e. if he does not attend the meeting, Chief Minister has the authority to hold meeting and finalise names of the members as well as Chairperson alongwith Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council. Presently, NC's Mubarak Gul is Speaker of the Assembly and Amrit Malhotra of Congress is the Chairman of Council.
Hence, NC with two members which includes Mubarak Gul and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has an edge over Congress. Sources said that the three can hold meeting anytime and make the commission functional but for reasons best known to the Law Department and the Chief Minister's Office, they have been unable to fix a date for holding this high profile meeting. Irony is that the two political parties are non-serious towards making this institution functional.
Whatever the reason, sources said that Congress and NC should have desisted from politicising the appointment of members to this commission. They maintained that by delaying the process of appointment for purely political reasons, both the parties are giving a clear indication of their non-seriousness towards reviving an important institution which has extreme importance in Jammu and Kashmir, which is regarded all over the world as the most sensitive state.
Since June 28, the rights watchdog has become completely defunct as it is without a member. Rafiq Fida and Amolak Singh, the last serving members of the body, completed their three-year term on June 28, 2014. Ex-SHRC chairperson Justice (Retd) Bashir-ud-Din retired in October 2011 and since then the Government has failed to make a suitable replacement. While Abdul Rashid Khan, former Inspector General of Police, completed his term as SHRC member in November 2011, another member Javaid Ahmad Kawoos attained superannuation on October 24, 2013.
If what was reported in the media is true, a crucial meeting of the selection panel for appointment of the State Human Rights Commission chairperson and its members was postponed on August 11, 2014. The meeting which was scheduled to take place at the Chief Minister's residence was put off at the eleventh hour, reportedly in the backdrop of differences between the coalition partners
Earlier, on May 5 this year, the meeting was cancelled due to imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the Lok Sabha polls. Thereafter, State Government made an attempt to make SHRC functional in August. If the meeting is not convened in this month, sources indicated that the commission is likely to remain defunct until the time the new Government does not assume office |
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