Nod to change tenure of NHRC chief

NEWDELHI: The cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that proposes to amend the tenures of the chairperson and members of National Human Rights Commission.

The legislation also recommends enlarging the “scope of eligibility and scope of selection of chairperson” of NHRC, a position which so far has been held by a retired Chief Justice of India.

According to a government statement, the cabinet gave its approval to the Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018, formulated for “better protection and promotion of human rights in the country”.

“It (the legislation) proposes to amend the term of office of chairperson and members of National Human Rights Commission and state human rights commission to make it in consonance with the terms of chairperson and members of other commissions,” the statement said.

The proposal was aimed at bringing uniformity within the organisation, a home ministry official said on condition of anonymity. “Chairpersons and members of some of the commissions have a total term of five years while in other cases the term is three years. The latest move is to bring some uniformity,” the official said.

NHRC officials were not avail- able for comments. Elaborating on widening the eligibility criteria for the chairperson, the official said, “We did not want to mention the obvious that the NHRC chairperson can only be a retired CJI”.

KEY CHANGES IN CCI

The cabinet also gave its approval to the right sizing of the Competition Commission of India (CCI). “The proposal is expected to result in the reduction of three posts of members of the commission in pursuance of the government’s objective of minimum government - maximum governance,” a release said.

At present, CCI has a chairperson and six members.