Inauguration of Human Rights Course
“Safe drinking water is an ![]()
inalienable right of the citizens of Dehradun and it is the duty of the State (Nagar Nigam and other local bodies dealing with water supply) to provide it, and if they fail in doing so a common man has a right to sue them ask for compensation,” these were the words of Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.B Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India at the inauguration of the 5th batch of the Post-Graduate Diploma Course in Human Rights under the aegis of Indo-Srilanka Human Rights Centre. This year the participants are from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The participants are no novice but are seasoned personnel’s from Sri Lankan Administrative, Police and Foreign services and law graduate’s, teachers and people working with community based organizations.
This course is dynamic, innovative and looks at human rights from a global perspective. The course upholds the spirit of SAARC and aims to inculcate and spread a ‘human rights culture’ to usher in a just and equitable society. The course was inaugurated in the benign presence of Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.B Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India; Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pradeep Kant, Judge, U.P High Court; Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan B. Lokur, Judge, Delhi High Court and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajesh Tandon, Judge, Uttarakhand High Court.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pradeep Kant, Senior Judge, U. P High Court delivered a lecture to the participants of the Human Rights Course on an exceedingly imperative issue “Human Rights: Origin, Issues and Role of Judiciary”. This was followed by another invigorating lecture by Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan B. Lokur, Judge, Delhi High Court, on “Crime against Humanity and International Criminal Tribunals”. Both the lectures were very thought provoking and were preceded by an interactive question answer session.
The post-lunch session witnessed the inauguration of the workshop by Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.B Sinha, Judge, Supreme Court of India on “Subject laws both Central as well as State which infringe upon the domain of the Panchayati Raj Institutions” jointly organized by RLEK and Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India. The workshop deliberated upon issues which were brought to light by the draft interim report of the “study to review the subject laws which infringe upon the domain of the Panchayati Raj Institutions” prepared by RLEK. The study was conducted to identify analogous ‘parallel bodies’, which encroach upon the functions of Panchayats, and to avoid the inter-institutional conflict.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice S.B Sinha, Judge Supreme Court of India while inaugurating the workshop laid great emphasis on the need of partyless democracy at the grassroots level. Elaborating the main characteristics of good governance, he stated that the government should be effective, quick, responsible, responsive and above all humanitarian.
Mr. Avdhash Kaushal, Chairperson, RLEK, stated, "Human rights education is a step towards building a sensitized cadre to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity.”