LG Ladakh to exercise powers, functions of state govt under Human Rights Act

Srinagar: The Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Union Territory has been empowered by the President of India to exercise the powers and functions exercised by the State government under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

“In pursuance of clause (1) of article 239 of the Constitution, the President hereby directs that the powers and functions of the State Government under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, shall, subject to the control of the President and until further orders, be exercised and discharged by the Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Ladakh,” reads a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Earlier on March 18, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) shall deal with all human rights concerns in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

Before the reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir, the erstwhile State had the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC), a full-fledged rights body set-up by the National Conference regime in 1997.

The Commission ceased to exist from October 31, 2019, as the law under which it was established was repealed by the Parliament when it passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act on August 5 last year.

The SHRC had made it easier for people to report human rights abuses in conflict-hit J&K. From its establishment till March 2019, the SHRC received 8,529 cases of alleged human rights violations, of which 7,725 had been dealt with.

In this period, the Commission made recommendations in 1,862 cases of killings, torture, custodial disappearance and other violations. KNO