Shillong, April 24: Next time if your locality does not get proper water supply or if a Government project is not implemented properly, concern citizen can easily approach the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission for redressal.
While cases of human rights violation come into fore from time to time, many people are not coming forward to file a case before the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission (MHRC).
The chairperson of the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission, Justice T. Vaiphel on Tuesday said that people were not coming approach the Commission and registering a suo moto case is not beneficial since parties do not want to continue with the cases.
Stating that the scope of the Commission gets limited when a matter is between private individuals, he said that the Commission can act if there is a public element involved in the matter.
It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission since 2017 has registered as many as 214 complaint cases out of which 108 have been disposed of while 110 cases are still pending.
As far as suo moto cases are concern, the Commission has registered 57 such cases and 22 have been disposed of while 35 are pending.
Lamenting that the number of complaints coming to Commission in Meghalaya is quite less and infact not even 10 in a month, he said that people in Assam especially Barak area frequently approaches the Assam Human Rights Commission and they get 7-8 complaints every day.
There are also several cases in Meghalaya where the complainant or the victims were awarded compensation after the Commission took cognizance of the matter.
As of now, a compensation of Rs 3,351,000 has been awarded in 11 matters after the Commission took up the matter.
In the matter pertaining to the killing of 6 people in coal pit mishap, a compensation of Rs 5 lakh was provided. Similarly, in a matter of Hospital negligence, Compensation of Rs 3 lakh was provided.
Compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh each were also given to 2 minor siblings who were electrocuted to death in West Khasi Hills besides 5 lakh compensation was also given for a custodial death.
Making it clear that the scope of the Commission is not limited to mere harassment by the police, he said that in Assam, the villagers approached the Commission as they were not getting proper water supply after which the Commission called for a report and concern official took action.
Stating that the scope of Human rights is vast, he added that people can also approach Commission on matters of MGNREGA and even if they find that some projects are not implemented properly
According to Justice T. Vaiphel, though the Commission cannot disturb the people investigation, he added that the Commission can takes the police to task if the investigation is not done properly
Though the recommendations of the Commission are not binding on the Government, he added that the Meghalaya Government mostly has adhered to the recommendations of the Commission
The Commission have now also sought a report from the Government pertaining to media report on no arrest yet in South West Garo Hills gang rape and assault case and a notice has been issued to the District SP to submit a detailed report.
The Commission however cannot interfere in matters of Central Government institutions like NEHU, NEIGRIHMS, BDF ETC since there central Government subjects and individuals have to approach National Human Rights Commission if they have to file a case on Central Government institutions.