New Delhi, April 17: The Supreme Court today agreed to examine a petition challenging the Centre's reported plans to appoint Kerala governor and former Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam as the next National Human Rights Commission chairman.

Incumbent Justice K.G. Balakrishnan is due to retire on June 7.

The petition said Justice Sathasivam had faced allegations of misconduct and also raised the question of conflict of interest, arguing that having been appointed governor of Keralaon alleged political considerations, he cannot be expected to discharge the role of NHRC chief in an independent manner.

According to the NHRC Act, only a former Chief Justice of India can be appointed to the post, provided they are below the age of 70 years.

A bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Arun Misra agreed to look into the petition after a senior counsel appearing for the All India Bar Association mentioned the matter before the bench at 10.30am.

Justice Sathasivam had drawn criticism when he became the governor on September 3 last year, less than six months after he retired as the Chief Justice on April 26. For one, a governor is seen as a political appointee and it was thought to be improper for a Chief Justice to accept the post. It was also seen as a drop in stature. No Chief Justice of India had before him accepted a gubernatorial post.

The petition on behalf of the lawyers' forum by senior counsel Adish C. Aggarwala, citing news reports, said Justice Sathasivam was being considered for the post despite his facing charges of abuse of position and misconduct, although there were other former Chief Justices - R.M. Lodha, Altamas Kabir and S.H. Kapadia - who are also eligible.

"It is in knowledge of the petitioner herein that there are various allegations that Justice Sathasivam had misused his judicial office to obtain a huge array of land from the Tamil Nadu government for the mother of his daughter-in-law and also that Justice Sathasivam had secured Maruti car agency (Aadhi) for his son Mr. Srinivasan in Coimbatore by getting waived the requirement of security deposit of Rs 5 crore.

"Further, it may be noted that appointment of Justice Sathasivam will bring conflict of interest as Justice Sathasivam is now part of the executive arm, he is no longer eligible to be appointed chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission. It is submitted that one cannot associate with politics/politicians and still possess the purity of a judge, since the edifice of our justice delivery system is founded on the oft quoted principle that 'Not only must justice be done, it must also be seen to be done'."

The petition argued that Justice Sathasivam would continue to be seen as a representative of the ruling political party. "He will always owe a debt of gratitude to the government for having appointed him governor and will be under pressure to side with the government or the ruling political establishment to redeem this debt. If there is loss of public confidence, the same will have a devastating effect on the efficacy of the institution," it said.

The petition urged the apex court to direct the Centre to frame a transparent selection procedure based on definite criteria.

The court said it would examine the petition on April 20.