No takers for post of SHRC chairperson

The members of a high-level committee headed by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, to select chairperson and members of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) were in for a shock, when they held the first meeting on Tuesday.

Reason: As many as 150 applications were received for two vacant posts of members, while there was not a single aspirant for the chairperson’s post.

All the members had come up with their own list of aspirants, making the selection process a tough task. Presiding officers of both the Houses of the Legislature, leaders of the Opposition in both the Houses and the Home Minister are other members of the committee.

All the members attended the meeting.

The Governor makes the appointment based on the recommendation of the committee.

The committee, as a result, decided to meet again on August 21 to finalise the candidates.

The meeting resolved to gather all information on the selection process before shortlisting the names.

It was also decided that each member would suggest a name for the chairperson’s post in the next meeting, official sources said.

As per the rule book, a person should be either a retired chief justice of High Court or retired Supreme Court judge to be eligible to become SHRC chairperson.

The SHRC chairperson’s post is vacant since July 25.