10 ... ... ... ... .. T E N Y E A R S O F T H E C O M M I S S I O N I N R E T RO S P E C T Ten years of the Commission in retrospect CHAPTER 2 2.1 On 12 October 2002, the Commission completed nine years of its existence and entered the tenth. This report, therefore, provides an opportune occasion to reflect, briefly, on the evolution of the Commission and its principal concerns over the past decade. A] Working of the Statute 2.2 There was considerable skepticism initially, not least among NGOs, human rights activists and others, as to whether the Statute of the Commission was strong and unambiguous enough to ensure the "better protection" of human rights in the country, which was the avowed purpose of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. 2.3 The Commission, for its own part, from the very first year of its existence, felt the need to propose amendments to that Act in order to ensure that its provisions would help, and not inhibit, or lend themselves to inhibiting, the "better protection" of human rights in the country. By the sixth year of its existence, in the light of the experience gained, the Commission felt constrained to request a former Chief Justice of India, Justice Shri A.M. Ahmadi, to head a high-level Advisory Committee to make a comprehensive assessment of the need for structural changes and amendments to the Act. The advice of that Advisory Committee was carefully considered by the Commission in February 2000 and its own proposals for amendments to the Act were transmitted to the Central Government in March 2000. Those proposals were annexed in full N AT I O N A L H U M A N R I G H T S C O M M I S S I O N