After lying in limbo for months...MHRC gets new Chairman, Member
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 06 2023: After months of lying in limbo, the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has been activated with the appointment of a new Chairperson as well as a Member.

Utpalendu Bikas Saha, a retired Judge of the High Court of Tripura is the new Chairperson.

Along with the appointment of the Chairperson, Kangjam Khagendra Singh has been appointed as a Member of the MHRC.

Their appointment to the posts was notified by the Government on February 3.Notably, this is the first time in over a decade, a regular Chairperson has been appointed to the Commission.

Earlier, the post was held by Khaidem Mani as Acting Chairperson, and after his term ended on August 31, 2022, the post was left vacant for more than 5 months without an appointment to replace him.

Significantly, the appointment of retired Judge Utpalendu Bikas Saha as the Chairperson comes after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court of Manipur by U Nobokishore, a member of MHRC Core Group on NGOs and HRD with Advocate Okram Kiranjit and Advocate Okram Nutinkumar as counsels in June 2022 .

It may be noted here that this PIL was filed before the end of Khaidem Mani's 3-year term as Acting Chairperson on August 31, 2022.The PIL was reportedly filed preemptively to avoid any delay in appointment of a new Chairperson.

The Manipur Human Rights Commission was established on June 27, 1998 .

During its little more than 24 years of existence, the Commission has been in existence without a Chairperson or Acting Chairperson for over a decade.

After the end of the first ever term (5 years), the Commission was without a Chairperson for about 2 years.

A PIL was then filed with the Imphal bench of the Gauhati High Court for appointment of a Chairperson.

A Chairperson was then appointed, however at the end of the term in 2010, the Commission became headless once again.

This time, the Commission remained without a Chairperson for about 8 years till the appointment of Khaidem Mani as the Acting Chairperson on August 31, 2018 .

Khaidem Mani's term (3 years) ended on August 31, 2022 and since then, the Commission had been without a head till the latest appointment of the retired High Court Judge as the Chairperson.

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