SC orders TN to fill SHRC chairman post urgently

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has strongly disapproved the chairperson's post in state human rights commission (SHRC) in Tamil Nadu lying vacant for three years and asked the J Jayalalithaa government to take urgent steps to fill the vacancy.

"State of Tamil Nadu has always shown zero tolerance towards human rights violations and has always sent clear message of its commitment towards protection of human rights. We see no reason as to why the post of chairperson, SHRC, which is to be headed by a retired chief justice of a high court, should remain vacant for more than three years," a bench of Justices T S Thakur and R Banumathi said.

"State of Tamil Nadu would do well if it takes appropriate steps to fill the vacancy of the chairperson SHRC expeditiously," the bench added.

The court also indicted the Tamil Nadu government for lack of promptness in dealing with the violence in Ambedkar Government Law College, where non-dalit students were brutally beaten up on November 12, 2008. After perusing the status report on the law college violence, the bench said, "We feel that the matter was not proceeded with the seriousness with which it ought to have been proceeded with."

However, it refrained from considering a CBI probe into the incident given the fact that police have filed charge-sheets and the cases are up for trial.

"We feel that the matter should have been addressed by the police and the state with great concern and promptitude," the bench said, indicting the previous M Karunanidhi regime.

However, the blame for not filling the SHRC chairman's post fell squarely on the Jayalalithaa regime. The post fell vacant on August 27, 2011, four months after AIADMK came to power.

The state, through advocate Subramonium Prasad, informed the court that Madras High Court had provided a list of eligible persons for the SHRC chairman's post to the government, but most have either been appointed to different tribunals or equivalent posts outside the state or attained the age of 70 years, rendering them ineligible.

The other ineligibility for candidates in the Madras HC list was their lack of familiarity with the language and culture of Tamil Nadu, the state said, informing the apex court that "it was almost impossible to find a suitable candidate for the post".

The state also said it has written to the Centre to amend the eligibility criteria for SHRC chairman's post by allowing appointment of any retired judge of the HC who had a minimum seven years experience at the bench.

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SC orders TN to fill SHRC chairman post urgently