No Proposal to make Human Rights Impact Assessment HRIA mandatory for companies

Human Rights Impact Assessment

The Companies Act, 1956/2013 does not contain any provisions related to human rights impact assessment (HRIA) for companies. Further, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which deals with complaints about alleged violation of human rights by a public servant only, does not maintain a separate incident code or record under the head Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) for companies in India. In case of proven violation of human rights, NHRC can make recommendations to the concerned authorities in Central/State Government. Appropriate recommendations have been made by NHRC to the concerned government authorities for relief / rehabilitation of the project affected in cases of displacement of villagers/local people on account of acquisition of lands for ‘mega projects’ in various States. There is no proposal before the Ministry of Home Affairs or Ministry of Corporate Affairs to make HRIA mandatory for companies.

This was stated by Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Corporate Affairs in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.