DY Chandrachud Being Considered For Rights Panel Chief Post? He Says...

Dismissing reports of him being considered for the post of the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud has said rumours are being spread and that he is enjoying his retired life as a private citizen. 

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been without a full-time chairperson since former Supreme Court judge Justice Arun Kumar Mishra finished his tenure on June 1. A high-level committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also comprising Home Minister Amit Shah and the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge,  had met on Wednesday to consider names for the new chief of the panel.

When Justice Chandrachud was asked about reports claiming that he was in contention for the post, he told NDTV: "It is just a rumour. Nobody has spoken to me about this and I am loving my life as a private citizen. I am enjoying my retired life."

Justice Chandrachud, who was the 50th Chief Justice of India, demitted office on November 10. During his two-year tenure as the Chief Justice, he headed the Constitution bench which upheld the scrapping of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and also led the bench which ordered the dismantling of the electoral bonds scheme. 

The NHRC, which is headed by a former Chief Justice of India or a retired Supreme Court judge, currently has one of its members, Vijaya Bharathi Sayani, serving as the acting chairperson. 

Former Chief Justice HL Dattu was appointed the chairperson of the panel in 2016 and former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan also served as its head between 2010 and 2016.