Panchayat polls: HC dismisses NHRC plea to appoint observers

: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeal by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the Single Bench order which had set aside appointment of observers and other related directions issued by the Commission for the upcoming Panchayat election.

The appeal was dismissed by the Division Bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya. In its order, the Division Bench held that NHRC lacked jurisdiction.

“We are of the view that the learned single bench rightly set aside the order passed by NHRC and we find no good grounds to interfere with the ultimate conclusion of the learned single bench,” the Bench stated.

They further stated: “The learned senior advocate submitted that the action initiated by in NHRC was held to be based on conjectures and surmises which is incorrect…We have elaborately referred to the basis on which the order dated 12.06.2023 was passed by NHRC and we have held that based on such media report the order could not have been passed and the powers exercised by Commission to pass such order cannot be traced to any one of the clauses in Section 12 of the 1993 Act which enumerates the functions of the NHRC. We have also held that NHRC had pre-decided the matter solely based upon media report.”