Justice (retd) Ramasubramanian, a former judge of the apex court, has been appointed the chairperson of the NHRC. The NHRC, in a post on X, said, “Hon’ble President of India appoints Shri Justice V. Ramasubramanian (Retd.) as the Chairperson, and Shri Priyank Kanoongo and Dr. Justice Bidyut Ranjan Sarangi (Retd.) as the Members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India.”
Justice Ramasubramanian retired on June 29, 2023, after serving for over three years as a Supreme Court judge. During his tenure, he was part of several benches in important cases, including the five-judge bench that upheld the Centre’s demonetisation scheme in 2023 and the decision to set aside an RBI circular that stated it would not provide services to individuals and businesses dealing with cryptocurrency.
His legal career began after he completed his LLB from Madras Law College in 1983. He practised at the Madras High Court for 23 years before he was appointed as a judge of the same court on July 31, 2006. The previous NHRC chairman, Justice Arun Mishra, completed his term on June 1, 2024. It has since been functioning under the aegis of Acting Chairperson Vijaya Bharati Sayani.
Kanoongo earlier served as a chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). Congress president Kharge and Gandhi attended the meeting as leaders of the Opposition (LoPs) in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively.
However, Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had recorded their dissent over the selection of the chairperson and members of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the grounds that the process adopted was “fundamentally flawed” and a “predetermined” exercise that ignored mutual consultation and consensus.
They had proposed the names of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Kuttiyil Mathew Joseph for the position of chairperson. However, former Supreme Court judge V. Ramasubramanian has been appointed the new chairperson of the NHRC.
The post of NHRC chairperson had been lying vacant since justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra completed his tenure on 1 June 2024. On 18 December, a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting to select the next NHRC chairperson.
In their dissent note, Kharge and Gandhi recorded their disagreement on the grounds that the selection process adopted by the committee was fundamentally flawed.
According to the law governing NHRC, while the committee which selects the NHRC chief is headed by the prime minister, it has the Lok Sabha speaker, home minister, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha as its members.
