New Delhi: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Central government were at loggerheads in the Delhi High Court on October 22 over the Commission's power to award compensation to victims of custodial torture by investigating agencies while probing criminal cases against them.

The issue arose from a petition by the Centre challenging the power of the Commission to award Rs 50,000 compensation to a person against whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had been conducting investigations into a hawala case.

ED counsel Rekha Palli said NHRC had "overstepped" its powers by ordering Rs 50,000 compensation to one P L Mehta in the year 2000 for alleged torture by the directorate officials who called him for interrogation in 1997.

She said if the Commission was allowed to interfere in the investigation in this manner, it would hamper inquiry into the criminal cases. Moreover, the Commission had taken cognisance of the matter two years after the incident in February 1999, while under the law a limit of one year has been fixed, she said.

When the Bench comprising Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice H R Malhotra asked NHRC counsel S Murlidhar whether the Commission has power to condone the delay for inquiry in such cases, he claimed the Supreme Court has issued certain guidelines in this regard in a case related to mass cremation by Punjab police during militancy.

He said the Commission was "at a loss" to explain the stand taken by the Centre as the NHRC jurisprudence has been created only on the basis of violation of Human Rights by government agencies, especially during custodial interrogation. The next hearing of the matter was fixed for January 21, 2003.

PTI