Hyderabad: The two Telugu States were divided, but amongst the unfinished agenda is the division of the ersthwhile Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission (HRC), pending which, the worst abuse of power and greatest of citizen grievances — abuse of human rights — remain ignored. The HRC, tasked with providing timely relief to distressed citizens, has become non-functional, as the bifurcation of the Commission for the Telugu states is yet to be finished.
The HRC, which in particular dealt with several sensational cases and delivered justice to the victims before the formation of Telangana state, has been completely non-functional for last three years, with the bifurcation of the Commission still pending between Andhra Pradesh and TS. Thous-ands of victims from both the Telugu states are awaiting justice to their grievances that were put before the HRC. With vacancies for several posts, including that of the chairman, members, and executives have been not filled from December 2016, the victims were forced to wait for the relief. The Commission had earlier dealt the cases which involved victims of police cases, encounters, and attacks, and several victims received justice.
The 10th Schedule of the State Re-organisation Act stipulates that the Commission on Human Rights should be divided into two; however, after close to 200 weeks, no progress has taken place. The governments of AP and TS have completed division of corporations and other organisations in 10th Schedule, but not the HRC.
There have been allegations that the delay in the Commission’s division is due to a lack of communication between concerned officers. Due to this, the governments of the two states have not focused on the appointment of a chairman and other members.
Justice Nisar Ahmad Kakru served as the last chairman of the Human Rights Commission. He retired on August 21, 2016. In August 2015, members of the commission had completed their term. Since then, both the AP and Telangana governments did not constitute the commission.
At least 3,960 petitions are pending with the HRC since January this year, the total pendency is estimated to be in several thousands. Recently, the chief ministers of the two states have met and discussed the issues related to the bifurcation of employees and usage of river waters and other issues, but the HRC appointments did not come on up for discussion. Political parties and NGOs say that both states governments are neglecting the constitution of the working body for the HRC, deliberately. Despite several letters from the NHRC to both states on the formation of the commissions at the earliest, the issue was never addressed. The NHRC and HRCs of several states are now delivering services online to citizens, whereas the Telugu states even are lacking in appointing members.
Tera Rajinikanth Reddy, secretary, Telangana High Courts Advocates Association, said, “When citizens face any distress or denied of justice from the government bodies, they approach the Human Rights Commission. But for people of the two Telugu states, no services are being rendered.”
