- (1.) This petition in the shape of a Public Interest Litigation has been filed praying for quashing of the report of Vishnu Sahai Commission that was appointed by the State Government under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 [hereinafter referred to as 'the 1952 Act'] to enquire, investigate and report on the Muzaffarnagar Communal Riots that occurred in the year 2012. The main ground of challenge is to the eligibility of Justice Vishnu Sahai, Retired Judge and former Acting Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to chair the said Commission due to the alleged disability under Section 24 (3) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
(2.) Shri Asok Pande, learned counsel for the petitioner urges that Justice Vishnu Sahai who is a former Member of the U.P. Human Rights Commission, after having ceased to hold office as a Member, was ineligible for further employment under the Government of a State or a Government of India. According to him, his appointment as a one-man Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 amounted to an employment under the State Government and therefore the entire exercise undertaken by him to enquire into the Muzaffarnagar Communal Riots was without any authority, and by an incompetent person. Consequently, the report and its acceptance are all illegal and therefore, the State Government should be directed to re- appiont some other Judge to head the Commission and to enquire into the riots, or in the alternative direct the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the role of politicians and the bureaucrats involved in the riots.
(3.) The petition was vehemently opposed by the State contending that not only the enquiry is over and the report submitted, but the same has also been accepted by both the Houses of Legislature and consequently, the Commission having became functus officio, any challenge raised to it should not be entertained at this stage. It is also urged by the learned Additional Advocate General that the appointment of the Commission was made way back more than three years ago, and no challenge having been raised and the Commission having completed its enquiry, the petition also suffers from laches and lack of bona fides.;