Lawyers’ body opposes Justice Sathasivam as NHRC chief

NEW DELHI: A lawyers' association on Friday moved the Supreme Court opposing the Centre's plan to appoint former Chief Justice of India and Kerala governor P Sathasivam as chairperson of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The petition by All India Bar Association was mentioned by senior advocate S P Singh before a bench headed by CJI H L Dattu alleging that the NDA government had not considered names of other ex-CJIs before zeroing on Justice Sathasivam as former CJI K G Balakrishnan's successor.

Singh sought an urgent hearing on the petition and informed the court that senior advocate Ram Jethmalani would argue the case for the petitioner association.

CJI Dattu said he would "look into the papers" and decide the date for listing the petition for hearing.

The association alleged that the NDA government's failure to consider the names of eligible former CJIs -- Justices R M Lodha, Altamas Kabir and S H Kapadia -- and obtaining consent of Justice Sathasivam for the assignment vitiated the selection process.

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