PUCL opposes Centre's decision on NHRC member

A Delhi-based rights advocacy group has opposed the government's move to appoint BJP Vice President Avinash Rai Khanna as a member of the National Human Rights Commission.
The 55-year-old former Rajya Sabha member from Punjab and BJP in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir is all set to be appointed as a member of NHRC with a high-level selection panel headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi clearing his name last week.
The People's Union for Civil Liberties also said that if the decision is not withdrawn, then it will be "constrained" to take up the matter in the Supreme Court.
"The PUCL strongly condemns the decision... The PUCL believes that this decision will harm the credibility, impartiality and effectiveness of the NHRC, which in the past has taken up issues of human rights abuses by government functionaries suo moto or on the basis of complaints and therefore, appointment of a politician of the ruling party... creates a conflict of interest," it said in a statement.