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4.1. Comparison of 2019 Amended Act with the 1993 Act
Provisions | Original Act of 1993 | Amended Act of 2019 |
Composition of NHRC | ♤ Under the Act, the chairperson of the NHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. ♤ The Act provides for two persons having knowledge of human rights to be appointed as members of the NHRC. ♤ Under the Act, chairpersons of various commissions such as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, and National Commission for Women are members of the NHRC. | ♤ The Act amends this to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or a Judge of the Supreme Court will be the chairperson of the NHRC. ♤ The Act amends this to allow three members to be appointed, of which at least one will be a woman. ♤ The Act provides for including the chairpersons of the National Commission for Backward Classes, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as members of the NHRC. |
Chairperson of SHRC | ♤ Under the Act, the chairperson of a SHRC is a person who has been a Chief Justice of a High Court. | ♤ The Act amends this to provide that a person who has been Chief Justice or Judge of a High Court will be chairperson of a SHRC. |
Term of office | ♤ The Act states that the chairperson and members of the NHRC and SHRC will hold office for five years or till the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier. ♤ Further, the Act allows for the reappointment of members of the NHRC and SHRCs for a period of five years. | ♤ The Act reduces the term of office to three years or till the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier. ♤ The Act removes the five-year limit for reappointment. |
Union Territories | The Act provides that the central government may confer on a SHRC human rights functions being discharged by Union Territories. Functions relating to human rights in the case of Delhi will be dealt with by the NHRC. |
4.2. Need for the amendment in the 1993 Act
♤ The NHRC was denied A-grade accreditation in 2017 by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), a UN body based in Geneva, due Commission’s failure in ensuring gender balance and pluralism in its staff and lack of transparency in selecting its members and rising political interference.
o However, in February 2018, GANHRI, re-accredited India’s apex rights watchdog with
the ‘A’ status.
♤ Demand from the certain State Governments had also proposed for amendment of the Act, as they had been facing difficulties in finding suitable candidates to the post of Chairperson of the respective State Commissions owing to the existing eligibility criteria to the said post.