Home :: Feedback :: Disclaimer :: Other Links :: Help  
Procedures & Regulations

PUNJAB STATE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
(Procedure) Regulations 
CHAPTER-1 
PRELIMINARY

1. Short title and commencement:-

  1. These regulations may be called the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (Procedure) Regulations, 1999.

  2. They shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from 1st March, 1999.

2. Definitions:-

In these regulations unless the context otherwise requires:-

  1. "Act" means the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, as amended from time to time.

  2. "Code" means the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, as amended from time to time.

  3. "State Commission" means the Punjab State Human Rights Commission.

  4. "Complaint" means all petitions/communications received in the State Commission from a victim or any other person on his behalf, in person, by post, by telegram, by fax, or by any other means whatsoever, alleging violation, by a public servant, of all or any of the human rights defined in Section 2 (d) of the Act, or the material on the basis of the which the State Commission takes suo motu cognizance.

  5. "Division" means and includes Administration Division, Law Division, Investigation Division and Research Division and such other Divisions in the Commission as may be constituted by the State Commission.

  6. "Division Bench" means a Bench consisting of two Members of the State Commission as constituted by the Chairperson.

  7. "Full Bench" means a Bench consisting of three or live Members of the Commission as constituted by the Chairperson.

  8. "Registrar" means Registrar of the State Commission.

  9. "Regulation" means regulations framed by the State Commission under Section 10(2) of the Act.

  10. "Secretary" means Secretary of the State Commission.

  11. "Single Bench" means of Bench consisting of one Member of the State Commission as constituted by the Chairperson.

  12. Words and expressions not defined in these regulations shall, to the extent defined in the Act, have the same meaning as assigned to them therein.

Headquarters of the State Commission:-

The Headquarters of the state Commission shall be located at Chandigarh.

4. Venue of the Meetings:

The State Commission shall ordinarily hold the meetings in its office located at Chandigarh. However, if may, in its discretion, hold its meetings at any other place if it considers if necessary and expedient.

5. Periodicity of meetings:

The State Commission shall normally have its regular sittings on the Judicial side at least thrice a week and the meetings on the administrative and other issues shall be held in the first and third week of each month. However, the Chairperson by himself or at the instance of one or more Members may hold a special meeting to consider any urgent issue. Such meetings shall be held within one week of the issue being brought to the notice of the Chairperson.

6. Secretariat Assistance:

The Secretary, along with such other officers of the State Commission, as may be directed by the Chairperson, or considered necessary, shall attend the meetings of the State Commission.

7. Agenda:

The Secretary shall, in consultation with the Chairperson, prepare the agenda for each meeting of the State Commission and shall cause notes thereon to be prepared by the Secretariat. Such notes shall, as far as possible, be self-contained. Specific files covering the agenda items shall be made readily available to the State Commission for reference. The agenda papers shall ordinarily be circulated to the Members at least two clear days in advance of every meeting.

CHAPTER - II
PROCEDURE FOR DEALING WITH COMPLAINTS/SUO MOTU ACTION.

8. 

  1. Complaints may be made to the State Commission in Punjabi or English. However, the State Commission may entertain complaints in any other language.

  2. No fee shall be chargeable on such complaints.

  3. The complaint shall disclose a complete picture of the matter leading to the complaint.

  4. The State Commission may seek further information/affidavit, as may be considered necessary.

9. Complaints not ordinarily entertainable:

The State Commission may dismiss in limine complaints of the following nature :-

  1. Illegible; 

  2. vague; 

  3. trivial or frivolous; 

  4. barred under Section 36 (1) of the Act. 

  5. barred under Section 36 (2) of the Act. 

  6. allegation is not against any public servant of the State Government; 

  7. allegations do not make out any specific violation of human rights; 

  8. matter is covered by a judicial verdict/decision of the State Commission; 

  9. the matter is outside the purview of the State Commission on any other ground.

10. Receipt and distribution of dak:

  1. All communications in writing by whatsoever mode they are received addressed to the State Commission, its Chairperson, Members or other of the State Commission, either by name or designation, shall be received at the Receipt Counter of the State Commission.

  2. The Communications addressed by name to the Chairperson or a Member shall be delivered to the addressee forthwith, by the Receipt Section.

  3. The dak shall be opened under the direct supervision of the officer in-charge of the Receipt and Despatch Section, who shall get the same sorted out diarised in a register containing particulars such as, date of receipt, diary number, sender's name and district and transmitted under acknowledgment to Law Division and to the respective heads of other Divisions.

11. Procedure regarding complaints:

The complaints received will be placed forthwith before the officer in-charge of the Law Division who shall ensure that all complaints which are not in English will be got translated into English so that they could be placed before the State Commission expeditiously. The Complaints shall thereafter be entered in a Register in seriatum and a complaint receipt number will be allotted to the same.

The complaints shall be put up before the State Commission with utmost expedition and will be examined in the first instance by a Single Bench, except which are involving vital or complex issue may be listed before Division Bench.

Provided that complaints which require urgent consideration shall be placed before the State Commission as far as possible within 24 hours of their receipt.

All custodial death, custodial torture, custodial rape, illegal detention complaint shall be normally heard by a Division Bench of the State Commission, while the cases of other types shall go to Single Benches unless otherwise required by the Chairperson keeping in view the nature of a particular case. A Single or Division Bench, as the case may be, may recommend the placing of a particular case before a Full Bench of the State Commission.

12. Registration:

  1. A common register shall be maintained in the Law Division for entering in serial order the case number with district Code and year of registration, the corresponding diary number and the distinct to which the incident relates in respect of each complaint ordered to be registered. The complaint number assigned to the complaint along with District Code shall be entered in red ink on the top right-hand corner of the complaint.

  2. The State Commission may ask the parties to tender evidence on affidavits. The State Commission may further orally examine the person whose evidence has been tendered on affidavit, if it so considers necessary by itself or on the request of the parties.

  3. File covers shall be got printed as in Form No1. Records relating to each complaint shall be kept in a separate file cover arranging them chronologically in the following order:

(i) Index in Form No II 
(ii) Order sheet in Form No. II. 
(iii) Complaint with annexure, if any.

13. Constitution of Bench(es) and placing of case Files

  1. The case files in respect of cases shown in the Cause List of the day shall be placed at least two days in advance before the Benches to be constituted by the Chairperson, along with a copy of the cause list.

  2. The number of cases to be included in the cause list to be placed before each Bench (es) per day shall be fixed according to the directions that may be given by the Chairperson from time to time.

If any working day is declared a holiday by State, then the cases listed for that day should be taken up on the next working day.

14. Preliminary consideration, issue of notice, etc.

  1. If on consideration of the complaint, the State Commission dismissed the complaint in limine, the said order shall be communicated to the complainant in Form No. IV and the case shall be treated as closed.

  2. If on consideration of the complaint or suo motu the State commission admits/takes cognizance and directs issue of notice to any authority calling upon it to furnish information/report, a notice in Form NO. V shall be issued, enclosing a copy of the complaint thereto. Such notice shall be signed by the Registrar.

15. Recording of orders/proceedings:

  1. Ordinarily orders of the State Commission shall be recorded in the order sheet, provided that the orders which are lengthy shall be recorded on separate sheets and appended to the order sheet. The P.S./P.A. attached to the Member concerned shall make entry in the relevant column of the order sheet mentioning the page numbers and the date of the order. The order shall then be fed into the computer.

  2. In cases where urgent action is required to be taken pursuant to the order/proceeding issue by the State Commission, the P.S./P.A concerned shall forthwith send the file to the Registrar/Joint Registrar who shall give suitable instructions in regard to the mode of communication by telephone/fax/speed/post/telegram etc. and transmit the records to the concerned Section for taking further action.

16. Summons:

(a) Whenever the State Commission directs to summon:-

  1. the complainant or any other person on his behalf to afford him a personal hearing;

  2. any other person who, in the opinion of the State Commission, should be heard for appropriate disposal of the matter before it;

  3. any person to cause production of records required by the State Commission;

  4. any person to be examined a witness;

  5. any person whose conduct is inquired into by it, or

  6. any person whose reputation, in the opinion of the State Commission, is likely to be prejudicially affected;

a summon indicating the purpose of summoning such person shall be issued as is prescribed in the C.P.C..

(b) The case in which summons has been issued for personal appearance of a person, shall be placed before the State Commission on the date shown in the summons for such personal appearance.

17. Calling for investigation report:

(a) Whenever the State Commission orders investigation to be undertaken by its Investigation Division or by any other investigating agency of the Central/ State Government as provided in Section 14 of the Act, a copy of such order along with copies of the papers relevant thereto shall be furnished forthwith to such Division/Agency calling upon it to conduct the investigation and submit its report within the time specified in the order and if no time I specified, within four weeks from the date of the order.

18. Communication of Recommendations:

When the State Commission, upon consideration of the inquiry report, makes any recommendations, a copy of the inquiry report, along with a copy of the recommendation, shall be sent with utmost expedition, not later than seven days from the date of such recommendation, to the concerned authority calling upon it to furnish its comments on the report including the action taken or proposed to be taken, within a period of one months or such time as the Commission may allow.

19. Steps after calling for comments:

(a) If no comments are received within the time allowed, the case shall be placed before the State Commission forthwith for further direction.

(b) If comments are received, the case shall be placed by the Law Division before the State Commission with a brief note containing the following information regarding:

  1. acceptance of the recommendation in full or in part;

  2. the action, if any taken or proposed to be taken by the concerned government/authority;

  3. the reasons, if any given for not accepting the recommendation and

  4. the action that may be taken pursuant to the comments received.

(c) On consideration of the comments received and the note referred to in Clause (b), the State Commission may pass such order as it deems proper.

20. Incorporation of other documents received:-

  1. Whenever any document is received in the State Commission relating to the complaint registered, the same shall be incorporated in the chronological order in the concerned case file, duly Paginated by the Judicial Branch. Appropriate entries shall be made in the order sheet. The Judicial Branch shall make entries in the index.

  2. Date relating to each case as required to be provided in the register in Form No. VI and also information relating to intermediary stages shall be fed into the computer at every state as and when the information becomes available.

21. Publication:

When the State Commission passes order after inquiry under Section 17 of the Act, the Registrar shall cause to:

(a) prepare at the close of the each month a list of such cases, furnishing particulars such as case number, name of the complainant, name of the government/authority concerned and the date of the final order. A Note shall be put below the list to the effect that copy of the inquiry report etc. referred to in sub-section (6) of section 18 or sub-section (3) of section 19 of the Act are available for perusal in Library of the Commission.;

(b) publish the list so prepared on the Notice Board of the State Commission on the first working day of the second week of every month.

(c) make available simultaneously to the Library of the State Commission two sets of the document referred to in sub-section (6) of section 18 and sub-section (3) of section 19 of the Act, as the case may be, and further order, if any, passed by the State Commission in each case.

(d) send simultaneously free of cost a copy each of:

(i) the documents referred to in clause © to the complainant or his representation; and
(ii) the order referred to in regulation 27 to the concerned government/authority.

22. Mode of Communication:

Unless otherwise directed, all communications from the State Commission shall be sent by ordinary post.

23. Review:

(a) No party shall have a right to seek review of the order/proceedings of the Commission.

(b) However, if any application seeking modification/review of the order or proceedings passed by the State Commission is received, the same shall as far as possible be placed before the same Bench which made the order, along with the case file and a brief note on the points made out in such application and the same shall be disposed of by such order as may be deemed proper.

24. Consignment of records:

Records of all cases finally disposed of shall be transmitted to the Records Section in the Law Division after completing the entries in the register in Form No. VI with regard to each such case.

25. Period of Retention of Record:

(a) Unless otherwise ordered by special or general orders of the Chairperson, the entire records of disposed of complaints shall be destroyed after the expiry of a period of two years from the date of final disposal.

(b) However, the register in Form No. VI which contains detailed information regarding each complaint registered district-wise shall be retained permanently.

26. Destruction of records:

  1. The officer incharge of the Record Section shall indentify the cases, the records of which are ripe for destruction and ensure that appropriate entries are made in the register in Form No. VI regarding the date of destruction. A list of such cases shall be maintained in a separate book in the record section.

  2. Original documents produced by a party shall be returned to him if a request thereof is received in the State Commission before the due date of destruction.

  3. Destruction of the records shall be undertaken in the month of July every year.

  4. The officer, incharge of Record Section shall cause to destroy the records subject to such general or special order/direction that may be given by the Registrar regarding the manner of destruction.

27. Procedure regarding suo motu action:

The procedure contained in this Chapter shall mutatis mutandis apply to cases-wherein suo motu action is taken by the State Commission.

28. Preparation of Statements:

The Registrar shall cause to prepare such weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly statements/returns/reports in such form(s) as may be prescribed by the State Commission from time to time.

CHAPTER -III
MISCELLANEOUS

29 Minutes of the meeting:-

  1. The minutes of each meeting of the State Commission shall be recorded during the meeting itself or immediately thereafter by the secretary or by any other officer a directed. Such minutes shall be submitted to the Chairperson for his approval and upon approval, be circulated to all the Members of the state Commission at the earliest and in any case, sufficiently before the commencement of the next date.

  2. The minutes of the previous meeting shall be put up before the State Commission in its next meeting for confirmation.

  3. The conclusions of the State Commission in every matter undertaken by it shall be recorded in the form of an opinion. Dissenting opinions, if given, shall also form part of and be kept on record. Action shall be taken on the basis of the majority opinion where there by any difference.

  4. Follow-up Action: Unless specifically authorized, no action shall be taken by the Secretariat of the State Commission on the minutes of the meetings until the same are confirmed.

30. Record of minutes:

A master copy of the minutes of every meeting and decisions of the State Commission shall be maintained in a Proceeding Book, duly authenticated by the Secretary, and a copy of the minutes pertaining to each item shall be added to the relevant file for appropriate action, and authenticated copies thereof shall be kept in the respective Division and for convenience, copies thereof with appropriate indexing shall be kept in guard files.

31. Report of Action Taken:

Report of follow up action shall be submitted to the State Commission at every subsequent sitting indicating therein the present stage of action on each item on which the State Commission had taken a decision in any of its earlier meetings, excepting the items on which no further action is called fro.

32. Authentication of orders and decision:

  1. Orders and decisions of the State Commission shall be authenticated by the Secretary or any officer of the State Commission (authorized by the Chairperson) not below the rank of an Under Secretary.

  2. Copies of enquiry reports or orders passed finally disposing of matter by the State Commission shall be furnished free of cost to the petitioner or his representative.

  3. Unless any document is classified by the State Commission as confidential, copy thereof would be available to the parties in the matter on demand, unless the State Commission decides otherwise. Even effort should be made to provide the copies with utmost expedition and in any case, not later than one week of the date of request.

33. Annual Report:-

The State Commission shall furnish its annual report for the period commencing from 1st April of the year to 31st March of the succeeding year to the State Government as provided in section 20 (1) of the Act. The original report shall be signed by the Chairperson and Members of the State Commission and appropriately preserved and a duly authenticated copy shall be sent to the Government by end of May of every year.

34. Special reports:

The State Commission may furnish such special reports on specific matters as may be considered necessary in terms of section 20 (1) of the Act.

35. Printing of the Reports:

The Secretariat of the State Commission shall be responsible for the printing of the Annual report and Special Reports with utmost expedition and in any case not later than one month of finalisation of the same.

36. Investigation Team:

The State Commission shall have its own team of investigation to be headed by a person not below the rank of an Inspector general of Police and such team of officers as the State Commission from time to time decides. The State Commission may in any given case appoint an appropriate number of outsiders to be associated with the investigation either as Investigators or Observers.

37. As and when any matter which is not covered by these regulations arises, it shall be competent for the State Commission to make appropriate directions and the State Commission may add, delete, amplify and amend these Regulations from time to time.

38. Transitory Provision:-

All complaints and matters pending as n the date of enforcement of these Regulations upto the stage of listing for preliminary consideration shall be governed by procedure obtaining prior to the commencement of these regulations. In regard to complaints and matters pending at other stages as on the date of enforcement of these regulations, these regulations shall be followed a far as possible.

 

Top