A view of the SC. Credit: Getty images
NHRC is currently headed by former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra.
The Supreme Court on Friday said that the National Human Rights Commission cannot claim an authority to put in place a mechanism for a parallel superintendence over elections, as it dismissed the rights panel's plea against the Calcutta High Court's orders quashing its decision to appoint observers in West Bengal Panchayat polls.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan castigated the statutory body for not stepping in where there are serious complaints of rights violation but pressing for its power to appoint observers during the polls.
NHRC is currently headed by former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra.
After hearing senior advocate Maninder Singh on behalf of the panel, the bench said, "NHRC cannot become the 'super Election Commission of India'."
“We will appreciate it if it (NHRC) steps in where it is required...not threatening to enter into someone else's jurisdiction. In India there are many areas where NHRC should intervene. It is not doing that but it is doing it in some other places and trying to enter into someone else's jurisdiction," the bench said .
The NHRC filed an appeal against the July 5 order of the Calcutta High Court, which had affirmed a single-judge order of setting aside the appointment of observers and other related directions issued by the commission “to protect human rights” in the course of the 2023 panchayat elections in West Bengal.
The court said the NHRC has no jurisdiction or authority to have a mechanism of parallel superintendence over elections when the Constitution under Article 243K and 324 vest the power of superintendence, direction, control and conduct of polls in the ECI and SECs respectively for Parliament and state assemblies.
With regard to SC's previous order on deployment of central forces, the bench said it was debatable whether the Supreme Court was right in intervening in the conduct of elections and call for central paramilitary forces in the state.
"It is a matter of debate whether the High Court and Supreme Court could have passed the order calling for central forces. Whether the Supreme Court has crossed the limits is a matter of debate. When that is a matter of debate, you want us to cross another limit,” the bench told the counsel.
According to reports, 55 people have died in panchayat poll violence in West Bengal between June 8 to July 16, 2023.
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the polls held on July 8, 2023.