Every year the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) receives about 70,000 complaints. Still, the Government shows no signs of filling up existing vacancies in the commission which is down to half its size now, with just two members and a chairperson.Of the five-member commission, two have to be former judges, one of whom Justice K. Ramaswamy retired on July 12 this year. He had joined on November 10, 1999. The other two are people with experience in human rights.One of these, Sudershan Aggarwal, retired on June 19, 2001, and the post has been vacant for a year and four months. He had joined on October 30, 1998. With two important posts lying vacant, complaints are fast piling up with the commission.Till date, the commission has 40,730 pending cases, and 340,000 cases are registered with it. As many as 60 per cent of all cases, however, are dismissed by the commission.A senior Home Ministry official, in charge of appointments, said: ‘‘The appointment committee members include PM, Home Minister and Leader of the Opposition. It’s very difficult to get such a committee to meet often.’’Commission chairperson Justice J.S. Verma too will retire in January next year. He will turn 70 then.‘‘It’s possible that the committee meeting would have to consider appointment of a new chairman too,’’ the official said. According to a study conducted by the commission in 1996, the only way to deal with the volume of complaints is by delegating these to various zones. The structure of the commission with a secretarial staff of 180, however, has remained the same since 1993 when it was set up.That year, the commission had received 500 complaints. The number rose to 20,000 a year by 1996. It’s now 70,000 a year. Over 40 per cent of all cases pertain to complaints against police, followed by rights violations in jails.
