Why UP Human Rights' Commission is headless: High Court to state government

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad High Court today sought a reply from Uttar Pradesh government on a petition questioning the failure to fill up the post of Chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission, which has been lying vacant for the past several months.

A division bench, comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Verma, asked the state government to file a detailed counter-affidavit by the next date of hearing on October 6 disclosing the steps taken by it to fill up the post that has been lying vacant since the retirement of the previous Chairperson in January this year.

The order came on the Public Interest Litigation of one Lokesh Kumar Khurana of Meerut who had sought the Court's intervention for filling up the post of the State Human Rights Commission chief. The state's Chief Standing Counsel submitted that a number of communications have been sent by the state government to the Registrar Generals of the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court seeking recommendation of the name of any retired apex court judge or a retired High Court Chief Justice but no reply has been received from either office.

However, the HC expressed its disagreement with the submission with the remark that "the law does not provide that the Registrar General of the Supreme Court or the High Court should send names for appointing Human Rights Commission Chairperson.

It is the state government's duty to fill the vacancy and it cannot pass the buck to the judiciary.