KEY statutory commissions in Maharashtra, tasked with upholding the rights of children, women and clamping down on human rights violations are struggling to function in the face of funding issues and staff shortage. The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has as many as 23,000 cases pending and the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has not had a chairman or members since 2011. A clutch of recent petitions in the Bombay High Court has highlighted the dismal condition of these commissions. Two PILs filed by social activists Naresh Gosavi and Kailash Sharma relate to the vacancies in the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission. The commission needs a quorum of three members, including the chairperson, to remain fully functional. 

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