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PUNJAB
STATE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
(Procedure) Regulations
CHAPTER-1
PRELIMINARY
1. Short
title and commencement:-
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These
regulations may be called the Punjab State Human
Rights Commission (Procedure) Regulations, 1999.
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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:-
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"Act"
means the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, as
amended from time to time.
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"Code"
means the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, as amended
from time to time.
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"State
Commission" means the Punjab State Human Rights
Commission.
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"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.
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"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.
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"Division
Bench" means a Bench consisting of two Members of
the State Commission as constituted by the
Chairperson.
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"Full
Bench" means a Bench consisting of three or live
Members of the Commission as constituted by the
Chairperson.
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"Registrar"
means Registrar of the State Commission.
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"Regulation"
means regulations framed by the State Commission under
Section 10(2) of the Act.
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"Secretary"
means Secretary of the State Commission.
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"Single
Bench" means of Bench consisting of one Member of
the State Commission as constituted by the
Chairperson.
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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.
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Complaints
may be made to the State Commission in Punjabi or
English. However, the State Commission may entertain
complaints in any other language.
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No
fee shall be chargeable on such complaints.
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The
complaint shall disclose a complete picture of the
matter leading to the complaint.
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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 :-
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Illegible;
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vague;
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trivial
or frivolous;
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barred
under Section 36 (1) of the Act.
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barred
under Section 36 (2) of the Act.
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allegation
is not against any public servant of the State
Government;
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allegations
do not make out any specific violation of human
rights;
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matter
is covered by a judicial verdict/decision of the State
Commission;
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the
matter is outside the purview of the State Commission
on any other ground.
10.
Receipt and distribution of dak:
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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.
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The
Communications addressed by name to the Chairperson or
a Member shall be delivered to the addressee
forthwith, by the Receipt Section.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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:-
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the
complainant or any other person on his behalf to
afford him a personal hearing;
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any
other person who, in the opinion of the State
Commission, should be heard for appropriate disposal
of the matter before it;
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any
person to cause production of records required by the
State Commission;
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any
person to be examined a witness;
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any
person whose conduct is inquired into by it, or
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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:
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acceptance
of the recommendation in full or in part;
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the
action, if any taken or proposed to be taken by the
concerned government/authority;
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the
reasons, if any given for not accepting the
recommendation and
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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:-
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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Destruction
of the records shall be undertaken in the month of
July every year.
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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:-
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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.
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The
minutes of the previous meeting shall be put up before
the State Commission in its next meeting for
confirmation.
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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.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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