LUCKNOW: Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal said here on Saturday that the State Human Rights Commissions had to assess whether the benefits of welfare schemes reached the people.

Excesses committed in the lockup alone did not constitute human rights violations, he said.

The non-availability of clean water and air and lack of access to health care and minimum nutrition needs were also a violation of human rights.

Saying that State Human Rights Commissions (SHRC) needed to become more effective, he said they should emerge as partners of the State in good governance.

At the foundation-laying function of the new building of the Uttar Pradesh Human Rights Commission, he lamented that Governments were tardy in the creation of SHRCs. Mr. Sabharwal said that since 1993, when the Protection of Human Rights Act was framed, only 14 States had constituted State human rights panels. Of these, four were without full-time chairpersons while the Maharashtra SHRC was virtually defunct, he said.

Uttar Pradesh constituted the commission in 2002. Only 14 State commissions were constituted in 13 years. The CJI wanted to know if Governments were serious about prevention of violations of human rights. The human rights code has not yet been framed. Violation of human rights could be stopped only if the Human Rights Act was implemented in letter and spirit.

Human rights authorities should be constituted at the district and taluk levels and the State commissions should ensure that the common man stood to gain from the different welfare measures.

He said the National Human Rights Commission should frame guidelines to be followed by the SHRCs as they were better equipped to handle human rights' violations. The national and State commissions had to collaborate with and complement each other.

SHRCs should be given limited financial autonomy to empower them. The Government should have complete faith in the commission's chairman and members, he said.

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