Jaitley urges govt not to downgrade NHRC stature

New Delhi, Aug 2 (UNI) BJP's Arun Jaitley today asked the government the need to downgrade the stature of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which would be headed by retired Chief Justices, whose appointment could be influence by the government in power.

''The value and report of the NHRC would go down,'' the former Law minister said after the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment), Bill 2005 was introduced in the Upper House.

Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said the Bill would make NHRC more efficient.

Mr Jaitley said there still problems in North-East, cross-border terrorism and the Maoist corridor. '' For the last 15 years we have faced the challenges of terrorism'', he said, adding there could be a need for harsher methods to deal with terrorism.

''Our experiences of meeting these challenges is a mixed one,'' Mr Jaitley said.

Congress' E M Sudarsana Nathciappan noted India has got the highest vote in the Asian region for good Human Rights behaviour.

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