National Human Right Commission 1.4 Section 3 (3) of the PHRA provides that the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes and the National Commission for Women shall be deemed to be Members of the Commission for the discharge of functions specified in clauses (b) to (j) of Section 12 of the PHRA. Accordingly, Dr. P. L. Punia, the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, Dr. Rameshwar Oraon, the Chairperson of the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes, Shri Naseem Ahmad, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities and Ms. Lalitha Kumaramangalam, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Women continued to be deemed Members of the NHRC. 1.5 Shri Satya N. Mohanty, IAS (1980 : Andhra Pradesh Cadre and later Telangana Cadre) posted earlier as the Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, succeeded Shri Rajesh Kishore (1980: Gujarat Cadre), as the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of NHRC on 3 June 2015. Shri J.S. Kochher and Dr. Ranjit Singh continued to function as Joint Secretary (Training & Research) and Joint Secretary (Programme & Administration) respectively in the NHRC. Shri C. K. Chaturvedi, an officer of the Delhi Higher Judicial Services, who worked as a District Judge, joined the NHRC as the Registrar (Law) on 1 December 2015. 1.6 During 2015-2016, the Commission focussed its attention on a wide range of activities in accord with the various functions prescribed under Section 12 of the PHRA. It took suo motu cognizance of media reports as well as on the basis of complaints about occurrences hinting towards use of excessive force by police personnel in different parts of the country resulting in loss of many lives; rape and death in police and judicial custody; violation of human rights of prisoners in jails; illegal detention and torture; deaths in encounter; deaths due to electrocution; delay in payment of pension to retired employees; 2 Annual Report - 2015-2016