Brushing aside objections raised by Opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, the UPA Government has initiated the process for the appointment of National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief SC Sinha as National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member.
According to highly placed Government officials, the Government has started the gazette notification procedures for appointment of Sinha based on the majority of the decision by the selection committee headed by Prime Minister.
Sinha’s appointment is backed by four members — PM Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and RS Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien.
The selection committee meeting which convened on March 29, the Opposition leaders objected the appointment of Sinha, citing BJP's protest on the appointment of Government’s favour and pliant bureaucrats and police officials at the Human Rights Commission. At an informal meeting, BJP leaders had shot down the name of former CBI director AP Singh as NHRC chief. later Singh was posted as a Member in UPSC. Sources said BJP leaders opposed Sinha’s name because of the way he led the NIA investigation into so-called Hindu terror probe. Party felt that NIA went out of the way to implicate several to malign the image of Sangh Parivar.
Two years ago, the Government had appointed PJ Thomas as CVC by rejecting Swaraj’s objection. Thomas’ appointment was later cancelled by the apex court. The recent appointment of former CBI Director Ashwani Kumar as Nagaland Governor has also invited BJP’s criticism. Party described it as “Government's post-retirement soaps to pliant bureaucrats.”