BHUBANESWAR: In a major embarrassment for the state government, former Orissa High Court judge Justice Raghubir Dash has resigned from Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) after another retired judge, a junior, was appointed as chairperson of the rights panel.
Justice Dash was a member of OHRC since December 24, 2018 and served as acting chairperson from May 15, 2019.He tendered his resignation to Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal a day after the appointment of former high court judge Justice Satrughana Pujahari as chairman.
In the resignation letter, Justice Dash cited that his conscience as well as a sense of self-respect dissuaded him from continuing to hold the office as a member of OHRC under the chairperson-designate who, as a judge of the high court, was junior to him.
He, however, mentioned that the newly-appointed chairperson of OHRC is the right person with the ability to raise the reputation of the institution to the next level by his tireless efforts to protect the interests of the victims of human rights violations.
As per records, Justice Dash was judge of the high court from January 4, 2013 to February 13, 2016 while Justice Pujahari took oath as a judge of the Orissa High Court on October 16, 2014. Justice Pujahari was transferred to Madras High Court on November 23, 2017 and repatriated to Orissa High Court on November 19, 2018 where continued as a judge till September 23, 2022.
Justice Dash was also the chairman of the commission of inquiry into the missing Ratna Bhandar keys of Jagannath Temple at Puri. He had submitted a 324-page report on mysterious loss of the keys to the Odisha government in December 2018.
The OHRC is a multi-member body consisting of a chairperson and two members. Along with Justice Pujahari, the government has also reappointed senior lawyer Asim Amitabh Dash as its member recently.
The appointment of a retired judge as chairperson of a commission when another retired judge senior to him was already serving as a member of the same commission has evoked sharp criticism among the Opposition and legal fraternity. It will create a bad precedent and lead to disharmony in the system, they said.