Human rights activists have criticised the State government for dilly-dallying on the appointment of the chairperson of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC). The post has been vacant since S.R. Nayak demitted office on July 25, 2012.
Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights T.B. Jayachandra has said that the government approached the former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court R.S. Garg to head the panel. But sources in the State Secretariat said the post was unlikely to be filled in the near future. “It seems that the government is waiting for the retirement of a Chief Justice of some High Court to appoint the head the rights panel.”
Instead of appointing a full-time chairperson, the government submitted a proposal a few days ago to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj seeking his permission to appoint a judicial member of the commission as its head temporarily. The Governor rejected the proposal and directed the authorities to appoint a full-time chairperson to the three-member body.
It appears that the government has lost the initial enthusiasm after it came to power a year ago. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Mr. Jayachandra held a series of meetings to appoint the chairperson. With limited choice, the committee formed to select candidates unanimously decided to appoint the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Darmar Murugesan to the post. But, Mr. Murugesan declined the offer following protests by Kannada organisations that he was an “outsider”. All attempts to persuade Mr. Murugesan failed. The former Supreme Court judge R. Raveendran’s name had also been proposed at one point, but he too turned down the offer.
On Human Rights Day last year (December 10), a group of activists gheraoed the Minister demanding early appointment of the KSHRC head.
Blessing in disguise for officer?
The battle between the political executive and the bureaucracy over the constitution of the Civil Services Boards has now resulted in the transfer of an officer from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) to the Department of Housing.
While the political executive seldom wanted constitution of the boards, which they felt would curtail their powers over the top civil servants, the bureaucracy appeared to be in favour of it. The then Principal Secretary, DPAR, Sanjiv Kumar was on the firing line and was issued a show-cause notice for reportedly keeping the government in the dark over the matter.
Though the Cabinet wanted the officer to be suspended, good sense appeared to have prevailed over the Chief Minister, and Mr. Kumar was transferred to the Housing Department on May 22. The government was upset that the officer had informed the Karnataka High Court that the government was prepared to constitute the boards for all-India service officers, at a time when it had kept an executive order on forming the boards in abeyance. The government had constituted a Cabinet subcommittee thereafter to study the directions of the Supreme Court which had asked States to offer their views on constituting the CSBs.
Though some regarded it as a “punishment” transfer, Secretariat sources, however, said Mr. Kumar had now moved into a vibrant department where he could work for the benefit of people. The department provides houses and housing sites mainly to economically weaker sections. On the other hand, work at the DPAR was a thankless job where the officer had to clear a couple of hundred files every day, sources said. Mr. Jayachandra, who heads the subcommittee, said the government did not want to precipitate the matter as it wanted to focus on delivery of administration.
Of celebration and resentment
BJP workers are jubilant after the Lok Sabha election results. They have been celebrating with fireworks in front of their party offices and on the streets. But doing this outside the house of the defeated Congress candidate in Belgaum met with resentment.
A group of BJP women leaders and workers burst crackers outside a Hanuman temple in Belgaum city to celebrate the victory of party candidate Suresh C. Angadi. Some viewed it as an act staged to humiliate the defeated Congress candidate, Laxmi R. Hebbalkar.
One version has it that Ms. Hebbalkar’s sister waved her hand at BJP workers insultingly. The workers kept quiet at that time. Later, as if to avenge the “insult”, when it was time to burst crackers, they did so with gusto outside Ms. Hebbalkar’s sister’s house and in front of the Congress candidate’s house. Passersby, however, were not amused.
Ombudsmen strike fear
Ombudsmen appointed by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department to hear complaints with regard to implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) have created a climate of fear among officials and elected members of the rural local bodies. The ombudsmen have been told to adopt zero tolerance towards irregularities in the execution of the job scheme. They have been told to act against all those wrongdoers who swindle public money. “The system has worked and is now showing positive results. There are fewer mistakes in accounts,” said K.G. Govindappa, Kolar district MNREGA Ombudsman.
“Now, officials and elected members of rural local bodies are keeping accounts systematically.”
Some 224 cases were registered against officials in the district for alleged irregularities. The local court recommended registration of 30 more cases against officers and people’s representatives. It also directed officials to recover Rs. 41.38 lakh misappropriated under the MNREGA.
