Mumbai: The Bombay High Court was on Friday informed that the Maharashtra government would finally appoint a chairman for the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) by December 10. It was further told that the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has approved the appointment.
A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta was further informed that the file has been forwarded to the state Governor for his approval.
The bench was hearing a PIL filed through advocate Vinod Sangvikar highlighting the fact that numerous key posts including that of the chairman of the commission, had been lying vacant for over four years now. In fact, the human rights body was defunct since April this year after the retirement of Judicial member M A Saeed, who was single-handedly managing the commission since 2018.
On Friday, advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the judges that the CM has approved the appointment of the chairman and the file has now been forwarded to the Governor for his nod.
"The appointment would be made by December 10," AG told the judges.
Notably, the state was to make the appointment way back in September, however, it sought time till October 22 to make the final recruitments. Despite giving time, the state didn't make any appointments and now has said that finally the appointment would be made on December 10.
