New Delhi, Sept 12: Former Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Bhasker Rao and a former IFS officer R S Kalha have been appointed as members of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Rao and Kalha have been appointed in place of Sudershan Aggarwal and Justice K Ramaswami, who retired in 2001 and 2002 respectively, official sources told a news agency here today.

Kalha, a 1965 batch IFS officer who had served as secretary (west) in the Ministry of External Affairs, assumed charge today. Rao is expected to take up the new assignment next week, they said.

With the appointment of two new members, the full strength of the commission has been restored to five.

Headed by Justice A S Anand, the commission had so far only two members, Justice Sujata Manohar and Virender Dayal.

Bureau Report