Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra appointed former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court Bilal Nazki as the chairperson of the State Human Rights Comission.
“The Governor appointed Justice (retired) Bilal Nazki as Chairperson and Jang Bahadur Singh Jamwal, District and Session Judge (retired) as Member of the J-K State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) with effect from the date they assume charge of their offices,” an official spokesman said.
Justice Nazki retired as Chief Justice of Orissa High Court in November 2009 and was later appointed as the chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Bihar.
He also headed the committee set up by the Centre to review the functioning of the Haj Committee of India and its state units in 2013.
While the SHRC was without a chairperson since 2011, it became non-functional since June 2014 after the last of its members completed their term.
About Bilal Nazki:
Bilal Nazki was born on 18 November 1947 at Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, and was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University.He was one of eight children and his father, Ghulam Rasool Nazki — a broadcaster, poet and literary figure who won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1987 — had moved from Bandipora to Srinagar in the year of Bilal’s birth.
After graduation he joined the Bar in Srinagar and practised in various courts, while also spending some time as a lecturer of the Kashmir University.
He worked as an advisor to the state government on various matters and was a member of the Delimitation Commission, which was concerned with electoral matters. Nazki was appointed Deputy Advocate-General of Jammu and Kashmir in 1986 and promoted to Advocate-General in January 1992. In 1991, while serving as an advocate and during a period of considerable instability in the state, he was kidnapped by an unidentified militant group but managed to escape his captors, who shot him five times as he did so. He ran 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) or 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to a hospital.
He became an Additional Judge in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in January 1995 and was made a Permanent Judge in December.
In October 1997 he was transferred to the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.While based there, he twice served as Acting Chief Justice — between April and November 2005, and November 2007 to January 2008. During his time in Andhra Pradesh he held various other posts while continuing to perform his duties in court:
