Must revive Human Rights Commission in 3 months: Jharkhand High Court to State

The court passed the order while hearing two public interest litigations seeking the appointment of the chairperson and members of the JSHRC and the filling of vacancies among its supporting staff. The petitioners through advocates Shashank Shekhar and Shailesh Poddar pointed out that Justice R R Prasad, who was serving as Chairperson of the JSHRC, died on June 3, 2018. Thereafter, S K Satpathy, an IAS officer and member of the commission, was given charge of the Chairperson. This arrangement was in place until 2022. Since then, no chairperson or members have been appointed.

Chief Justice M S Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar passed the order while hearing two PILs.

PIL before court

The State government, through senior standing counsel Manish Kumar, told the court that the appointment process was underway and the matter was presently before the Chief Minister. It said that under Section 22 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, recommendations for the appointment of the Chairperson and Members have to be made by a committee comprising the Chief Minister, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, minister in-charge of the Department of Home (member) and the Leader of Opposition.

The bench noted that it had repeatedly directed the State to provide a timeline, but the government had consistently responded that the matter was “receiving attention at the highest level”. The court said that despite such assurances, no firm timeline had been provided.

“…it appears that the State Government is not serious about complying with the legislative mandate in Section 21 of the Said Act, which requires the State Government to constitute the State Human Rights Commission,” the court said.

It lamented that for the past four years the Jharkhand State Human Rights Commission was not functional due to unfilled vacancies for the chairperson and other members. The court observed that Jharkhand had witnessed instances of alleged human rights violations, including custodial deaths, and therefore the State could not contend that a Human Rights Commission was unnecessary.

The court thus directed the state to fill up the vacancies as expeditiously as possible within three months. It further said that explanations such as the matter being under consideration “at the highest level” or the members of the appointment committee being unavailable would not be accepted.

“We also direct the State Government to not only fill up the vacancies within three months but also to take all necessary steps to ensure that the JSHRC is fully functional within this period of three months. Again, we reiterate that the Chief Secretary, State of Jharkhand, will be personally responsible for complying with these directions,” the court ordered.

It directed the chief secretary to file an affidavit of compliance by January 8, 2027. The PILs have been listed on January 15, 2027, for consideration of the compliance report.