Greeva Garg –
Bombay High Court while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) asked the Maharashtra Government reasons for the delay in filling up vacancies in the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission.
The PIL claimed that the posts vacant are about 50% of the total Commission. The PIL sought for filling up the vacancies for strengthening the functioning of the Commission.
The petitioner submitted that “No regular appointments have been made to the MSHRC since July 2018. The only adjudicatory member being the judicial member/acting chairperson retired on April 27 this year, leaving the Commission entirely non-functional.”
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The PIL filed by Advocate Vaishnavi Glolave, listed before the bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni observed that the significant functional posts in the Commission are still vacant including the Chairperson, Judicial Member, Expert Member, and Inspector General of Police.
Concerning the PIL, CJ Datta asked the Maharashtra Government that, “I remember my predecessor Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog had suggested three names then why is it taking so long?”
“Till March 2021, the MSHRC had 21, 545 pending cases, the highest in a decade and, the inaction of the State Government is only to be blamed for this, which, also shows scant regard on the part of the Government and the administration of Human Rights of the people,” the plea stated.