Legislations not always answer to governance ills: H L Dattu

He asserted that a UN-mandated review of human rights situation should be about plugging holes and not putting holes

Legislations cannot be the answer to every issue plaguing governance and too many regulations often end up "confusing" people more, National Human Rights Chairperson H L Dattu said on Friday.

He asserted that a UN-mandated review of the human rights situation should be about "plugging holes" and not "putting holes".

"Legislations, rules and regulations for everything do not always solve problems, rather too many of them create confusion in the minds of gullible masses," he said at the National Consultation on Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of United Nations.

"The problem perhaps lies with inconsistency in the implementation mechanism due to lack of awareness about the laws, welfare policies and grievance redressal mechanisms," Dattu said in his inaugural address at the two-day session.

"We must give away this notion that with time everything will change and move on after making hollow promises. We must discuss fundamental issues of governance affecting the day to day lives of people, find out the drawbacks," Dattu, a former Chief Justice of India, said.

The consultation, which saw participation of several Union government ministries, will assess human rights situation in the country and make a report for the third UPR to be conducted by the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in 2017.

The UPR, which was initiated when the Human Rights Council was created in 2006, is a process which involves a review of the human rights records of all 193 United Nations Member States once every four years.

The Indian government had accepted 67 recommendations made by the UPR-II and NHRC is in the process of reviewing the progress made on those fronts. The Commission will also submit an independent report to the global body.