By Violet Pereira, Team Mangalorean

Mangalore :  Karanataka State Human Rights Commission,  Chairperson and the former Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh Naadoja Dr Justice S R Nayak paid a visit to the DC office here on July 20.

Addressing the mediapersons Nayak said, "I came here to see the situation in the city about madesnana, Naxal problems, communal fights and to get the feed back of law and order situation. Dakhsina Kannada district is known for its hospitality and unity in diversity. Christian missionaries contributed a lot in the field of education and health and many students from Christian institutions have reached to high positions. In recent years, there have been some misunderstanding between the communities, people fight in the name of religion, we need to bring the same atmosphere back in Mangalore for that we need to join hands and work together.

Further he stated, "On 25 July 2007, I took charge as a chairperson of the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, the commission has registered more than 35,000 cases in the state. Out of them 6500 cases have been registered on the basis of public interest litigation, drinking water, bonded labour, child labour which were published in the print media. Already 24,000 cases have been disposed and justice had been given, 11,000 cases are in various stages of investigation". He also said that sometimes when a officer makes any mistake we have to give him a chance to correct his mistake.  In Dakshina Kannada district till June 30, 2012, 1643 cases have been registered out of which 924 cases have been closed, remaining cases will be closed soon.

He continued and said, "I have a mixed feeling,  in Karnataka after 14 years of ,long service in  the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993, it was very difficult  to sit in the office without any proper facilities. Government should provide infrastructure to give quality service, sufficient funds, and a spacious building to the people. But later I was overwhelmed because if we compare to other states our state has created history by registering cases on public interest, through media and most of the cases have been solved. 

He said, "I joined my duty 5 years ago, and on July 25, 2012 I am taking retirement from the post". When asked who will be the next chair person to the commission, he said till now there is no any process in appointing any chair person, if there will not be any appointments then the Human Rights commission will become non functional".  He urged the media not to publish any biased news which leads to misunderstanding or create problems. He said media should be very cautious while publishing the news. 

There was a felicitation ceremony from the district administration for Dr S R Nayak.  Deputy Commissioner Dr Chennappa Gowda in his felicitation speech briefed about the service Dr Nayak rendered in his tenure. He said, Nayak performed his duty well and hearing about his retirement, I am shocked. DC Chennappa Gowda honoured Nayak with shawl and garland.  IGP Western Range Pratap Reddy, SP Abhishek Goyal, Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr N Vijayaprakash, Mangalore City Commissioner Harish Kumar also felicitated Dr Nayak with shawl, garland and fruits.