Justice Raghubir Das Appointed Acting OHRC Chairperson

Bhubaneswar: Former judge of the Orissa High Court, Justice Raghubir Das was appointed as the acting chairperson of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) by the Governor Prof Ganeshi Lal.

Justice Das will remain in charge of the post till the appointment of a full-time chairperson, said a Raj Bhawan communiqué.

The post was lying vacant since August 15, 2018, after the retirement of Justice BK Mishra, who was the acting chairperson.

The Governor had earlier appointed Justice Das as a member of the OHRC on December 23 last year.

Prior to his appointment as the OHRC member, the state government had appointed Justice Das as chairman of the commission of inquiry to probe into the missing keys of Ratna Bhandara of Shree Jagannath Temple on June 6 last year.

The Odisha Human Rights Commission was constituted on January 27, 2000. Later, it became formally operational on July 11, 2003, with the appointment of Justice DP Mohapatra, a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court and former judge of the Supreme Court.