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Government in a fix on clearing Avinash Rai Khanna's name as NHRC member, plans wider consultation

Name of Khanna, a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab and BJP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, was cleared by the panel headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

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Facing flak for clearing BJP vice president Avinash Rai Khanna’s name as member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the government is now planning to hold wider consultations.  

Name of Khanna, a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab and BJP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, was cleared by the panel headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month. If chosen, he would have been the first active politician to be appointed as a member of the NHRC, which is headed by a former chief justice of India.

Besides a former chief justice as its chairperson, the other three full-time members, as per the Protection of Human Rights Act, should include a former chief justice of a high court and two others “from amongst persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights”.

“We are still in the process of clearing the names after other stakeholders (for the selection) raised objections on the name. We also need to seek the concurrence of Rai before finalising his name. He has not shown inclination until now,” said a senior official in the union home ministry.   

Though the appointment panel also had leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress and other political parties have threatened to raise the matter in the Parliament if the appointment is finalised.

Besides, the move has also been contested a young student of Noida who challenged the validity of the recommendation by the Prime Minister led panel to appoint Khanna.

In her petition, Anupriya Nagori  said that the decision making process as well as the recommendation were in violation of the statutory prohibition contained in Section 24 (3) of the Protection of Human Rights Act and Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

Khanna’s cannot be appointed as per Section 24(3) of the PHRA as anybody who has remained member of a state human rights commission cannot be the member of NHRC and Khanna had served in Punjab state human rights commission (SHRC) some years ago.

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