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State rights body gets new chairperson

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, April 17 - The Assam Human Rights Commission, which remained headless since November 2016 and nearly dysfunctional due to the lack of a division bench, has finally got a chairperson with the appointment of Justice T Vaiphei, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Tripura as its new head.

The three-member panel has acquired full strength with selection of Deba Kumar Saikia as the non-judicial member of the AHRC. The post was vacant since 2013.

LS Changsan, Principal Secretary, State Home and Political Department told The Assam Tribune that the appointment has ended a long search of the government to find a retired Chief Justice as the chairman of the AHRC.

�The delay was caused due to the predicament we faced in finding a retired Chief Justice of a High Court, despite repeated correspondences with several states. Apart from being a retired Chief Justice, the person must also be willing to serve the AHRC here,� she said. The rights panel comprises a chairperson, a judicial member and a non-judicial member.

In the past one year, though the AHRC registered 319 cases of the rights violation, it was unable to dispose them in the absence of a division bench, which is mandatory to hear and dispose the cases.

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