Outgoing KSHRC chief raises concern over non-appointment of successor

Mangalore, July 20: It would have been better had the state government started looking for his successor a couple of months ago itself, said Justice S R Nayak, chairman of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, who is scheduled to retire on July 25.

Addressing media persons after holding a meeting with Dr. N S Chennappa Gowda, Deputy Commissioner, DK, and Pratap Reddy, IGP (Western Range), at the Deputy Commissioner's office in Mangalore on Friday, Mr. Nayak said that immediately after his retirement, two more members in the commission will retire and by July 28, the Commission will be without any head and members. “The concerned appointments to the posts in the Commission should have been made a lot earlier as the process may take a long time. The Chief Minister has to discuss the appointment with other constitutional authorities like the Home Minister, Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, besides others which may result in postponing of the appointments. Since even members are retiring soon, the body will be without any representatives and accepting grievances of human rights violations and acting upon them will suffer greatly till the appointments are made”, he said.

Stating that he has mixed feelings with respect to his five year term in the Commission, Mr. Nayak said that he is happy about the fact that during this tenure the Commission had registered a number of suo-moto human rights violations complaints, without waiting for victims to knock its doors. “In this term, 36,000 cases were registered in the Commission, out of which, more than 6,500 complaints were registered by the Commission suo-moto based on media reports. Of the total number of complaints, 24,000 have been solved. The rest are still being enquired although In various stages. From Dakshina Kannada district, the Commission registered 1,643 cases out of which 974 have been solved. Compared to the human rights commissions of other states, we have registered more suo-moto cases”, he said.

Mr. Nayak said that the government did not execute everything that the Commission recommended, and neither did it not extend its cooperation at all. “But with more facilities, better infrastructure, personnel, and funds from the government, the Commission could have done better”, he said.

Sharing his concerns, Mr. Nayak said that the issue of communalism needs to be addressed quickly in Dakshina Kannada district. “This land was known for its secular nature and harmony. Today that secularism has shaken a bit. Attempts have to be made to bring back the same atmosphere in Dakshina Kannada which it was famous for”, he said. Basic facilities necessary for a human being such as water, land, health, security, equality, education etc were always his top priorities, he said, adding that hundreds of people are houseless in Belthangady taluk, where even Dharmasthala rural scheme is actively being implemented.

On the Naxal problem in the district, Mr. Nayak said that the government has to look into providing basic facilities and socio-economic justice to people to tackle the problem.