Fly on the Wall
Justice Chandrachud as New NHRC Chairman?
The Capital is rife with reports that Justice D Y Chandrachud who retired as Chief Justice of India (CJI) may be appointed as the next Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Insiders in the Modi dispensation say that the top NHRC post had been kept vacant by the government ever since Justice Arun Mishra demitted it in June 2024. It is almost six months since the post has been lying vacant and speculation has gained grounds that Justice Chandrachud would be an ideal person for it. Currently, NHRC Member Vijaya Bharti Sayani has been holding the charge of Chairman after Justice Arun Mishra retired. Sayani was appointed as acting NHRC chairman on June 5, 2024.
If reports are to be believed the new Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna has recommended Chandrachud's name for the coveted post. It was already in the realm of possibility that Justice Chandrachud may be given some key role after his retirement. The recommendation has gone to the Law Ministry and the process of selection has been set in motion. As per the law, the chairman should be a retired or serving Chief Justice of a judge of the Supreme Court of India or the high court. Earlier, the law stipulated that NHRC chairman would be a retired Chief Justice of India only. But this created a problem as not many were available for the post. The Act was amended as ambit was widened. The Chairperson and Members of the Commission are appointed by the President on the recommendations of a Committee comprising the Prime Minister as the Chairperson, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Home Minister, the leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya.
Rahul has a role in NHRC Chairman's selection
All eyes are set on Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi as to what he will do in the selection of new NHRC chairman. Until now the Gandhis had been ruling the system by proxy and doing the back-seat driving. Rahul Gandhi even skipped the coveted responsibility to become the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament. As LoP, Rahul Gandhi has many responsibilities during this journey. But Rahul Gandhi chose to hand over the reins of PAC to his trusted lieutenant K C Venugopal. But as an LoP, he is part of the selection process of not only the Chairman of the NHRC but also selects Director, CBI, Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Chief Election Commissioner, Central Information Commissioner, Chief and Members of the Lokpal and other institutions.
Rahul Gandhi will come face-to-face with PM Narendra Modi in such committees during the next few months as after the NHRC, the CEC Rajiv Kumar is also due to retire in early 2025. Gandhi has a Cabinet rank as LOP giving him first-ever Constitutional position but that comes with responsibility. One will have to see the outcome of the first encounter with the PM as the INDIA Bloc parties have already indirectly criticised Chandrachud for hosting the PM at his residence on the Diwali pooja.
How to fight Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi
The BJP, world's largest political party and India's oldest political party, the Congress are struggling for the past 11 years to dislodge Arvind Kejriwal from his Delhi citadel. The BJP has been extremely aggressive in dislodging Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi Assembly polls during February 2025 polls. The poll announcement will take place anytime December end. The BJP is hoping to end its 30-year long drought in the national Capital though it has been winning all seven Lok Sabha seats for the past three parliamentary polls. It is wooing all prominent leaders of the AAP and Congress and leaving nothing to chance. Recently, the Centre provided Y category security to Arvinder Singh Lovely who quit the Congress to join the BJP. Union Home Minister Amit Shah is determined to snatch the UT to prove his mettle in Delhi.
The Congress is also struggling to snatch back the power from Kejriwal after he dislodged Sheila Dixit in 2013 who ruled for 15 years. The efforts of some INDIA bloc leaders to bring AAP-Congress together in Delhi failed though Kejruiwal was amenable to the suggestion. It transpires that Rahul Gandhi's Man-Friday Ajay Maken torpedoed the move. The Congress leaders wonder why Rahul Gandhi gave him so much importance particularly when he lost his own deposit in the Assembly polls last time. Rahul Gandhi appointed him as chairman of the Screening committees in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Haryana. But the party lost all the states and no responsibility was fixed on him for these losses. Maken continues to be the blue-eyed boy of Rahul Gandhi.
Tailpiece: What's common between Assam & Jharkhand ! Not really but it's true during the elections. Jharkhand witnessed a battle within a battle. The Congress deputed its deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, as a senior coordinator for the state polls while the BJP appointed Assam CM as its co-in-charge for Jharkhand, Himanta Biswa Sarma who has been wooing the Adivasi population in the state. The Congress hopes Gogoi will be able to counter Sarma’s plank by flagging the BJP’s unfulfilled promises for Assam’s tea tribes. It's a bitter battle between the two as there were bypolls in Assam too.
