AGARTALA, July 29 (TIWN): In view of the direction by the Supreme Court to set up State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) at Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland including Delhi and Himachal Pradesh to ensure speedy trial in cases of human rights violations in three months, the Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on Tuesday claimed, “Despite the state government is willing to form the SHRC, we are unable to constitute the commission due to some financial constraints. Sarkar was talking to the newsmen at the civil secretariat on Tuesday. He also claimed, “We were unable to form the commission because so far we were not having suitable retired judges to head the body.”“We were willing to form the commission since long back before the SC has taken up the issue but due to unavailable retired judges and financial constraints has brought an obstacle to the entire process of constituting the body,” Sarkar told to newsmen.According to the rule retired Chief Justice of High Court or retired judge of Supreme Court must be the Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).“Since long back we have been looking forward to form the body but the lack of suitable retired judges brought difficulty towards forming the commission,” said Sarkar who also holds the home port folio.

Sarkar said that the state government has yet to get the appropriate retired judge to lead the commission. Among the eight northeastern states, only Assam, Manipur and Sikkim have human rights commissions.

The report said Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland - all disturbed states grappling with insurgency, foreign immigration, tribal warfare and ethnic violence - did not have human rights commissions.

The apex court has directed five NE states of Tripura, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland, besides Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, to set up human rights commission in three months.

The court further described that the absence of commissions do not signify the fact that there are no violations of human rights in those states.