As many as 51 persons, including the retired high court judges, former government secretaries and a former member of the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, have applied for 10 posts in the two transitional justice bodies.

The deadline for the application under the individual category expired on Friday, but the institutions or the organisations can recommend their names by the end of this month.

Records at the secretariat of the recommendation committee led by Om Prakash Mishra shows 15 people have applied for chairperson’s posts in the two commissions while 45 have applied for members.

Many of the applicants have applied for both the chair and members in both the commissions. Of the total, only 21 have applied only for members.

Raja Ram Dahal, an officer at the secretariat, told the Post they are yet to sift through applications for each position.

A single person, if he or she meets the criteria, can apply for four positions—chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons, and members of both the commissions.

To become a member of either of the commissions, one should have a master’s degree, have no political party membership at the time of appointment and must have contributed to the field of human rights, law, social work or conflict resolution. To qualify for the post of chairperson, the candidate should be a retired justice of the Supreme Court, chief judge of the High Court or a person with the qualification to become an apex court justice. “We will sift through the applications in a couple of days. As there are still a few days left to make recommendations from the institutional level, the number of aspirants is sure to increase,” he told the Post.

The Mishra-led committee on April 8 had called applications from the interested candidates issuing a week-long deadline. The victims and the human rights defenders, however, had demanded an extension of the deadline arguing that a week was too short for the purpose. Following the pressure, the deadline under individual category was extended till April 26 and the institutional level till April 30.

“We will start the selection process after April 30—the last deadline for the application,” Prem Bahadur Khadka, a member of the recommendation committee told the Post. The recommendation committee is expecting suggestions from different human rights organisations, including the umbrella bodies of the conflict victims. The Conflict Victims Common Platform and Conflict Victims National Network are preparing their list to be submitted to the recommendation committee.

Meanwhile, the victim’s organisations have started pressuring the top political leadership to ensure selection of only competent leadership in the commissions.

A team of common platform on Saturday met Nepali Congress Sher Bahadur Deuba asking him not to appoint the new leadership on political sharing. It also asked him for the support in amending the existing Transitional Justice Act together with the selection of the new team.

“He didn’t give clear answer but said he was willing to see the transitional process concluded,” Janak Raut, general secretary of the common platform, told the Post.