Members of the HLC
 Dr.LM Singhvi (Cabinet Rank as Chairman HLC)
Currently a Member of
Parliament (Rajya Sabha 1998-2004) and a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India, Dr
Singhvi was first elected to Parliament (in the Lok Sabha) in 1962. He has held many
distinguished posts in his long career of public service. Some of them were : Advocate
General of India (1970 to 1977); UN Special Rapporteur on the impartiality and
Independence of the Judiciary, Jurors and Assessors and Independence of Lawyers (1979-87);
Honorary Bencher and Master of the Middle Temple (1987); High Commissioner of India to
United Kingdom from early 1991 to end of 1997 and President Indira Gandhi National Centre
for the Arts( since 1999). Currently he is a member of several prestigious bodies among
which are Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague (2000), Commission of Inquiry into
Administration of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago; He also has professional and academic
connections all over the world. These include the International Legal Centre in New York
(of which he was a Trustee, 1967-76); International Conference on Legal Aid (Chairman,
1969); World Conference of Judges & Lawyers (Co-Chairman, 1980); Public Law Centre,
London (Patron); Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London (Honorary Fellow); The Hunger
Project in London (Patron); and many Indian and British Universities, where he was an
Hon.Visiting Professor and from which he was the recipient of several LL.Ds and D.Litts
The President of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1998 in recognition of his
pre-eminent contributions to Public Law and Public Affairs.
 Member: Shri R. L Bhatia
Like the
Chairman Shri R L Bhatia is also a Member of Parliament. A senior member of the Indian
National Congress, he currently represents the Amritsar constituency in the Lok Sabha. His
current tenure in Parliament follows his seventh successful election starting from 1972.
During his long political career, Shri Bhatia has held many important posts such as
General Secretary of All India Congress Committee, Chairman Parliamentary Committee on
Petitions and Member of the Committee of Privileges(1980-83) and Minister of State for
External Affairs(1996). Widely travelled, he has been a member of the ndian Delegation to
the United Nations General Assembly in 1975.
 Member: Shri JR Hiremath
A career diplomat,
Shri Hiremath retired from the Indian Foreign Service in 1989 as Ambassador to Austria and
Permanent Representative of India to the European offices of the UN, the IAEA and the
UNIDO. For two years after that, he was the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Southern
African Affairs and the AFRICA Fund. Thereafter, he was a Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow
researching on the then prevailing conditions of the people of Indian origin in South
Africa and their likely prospects in non-racists future that was about to be born. Since
1994, Shri Hiremath has enlarged the scope of his interests to cover diasporic problems
and prospects in other parts of the world.
 Member: Shri Baleshwar Agarwal
Starting his
professional career as an Engineer, Shri Agarwal soon switched gears and in 1949, became a
publisher of patriotic literature in Hindi and English. Two years later, he had taken up
the challenging task of establishing Hindustan Samachar. In due course, he had converted
it into a news agency using Nagari script teleprinters to transmit news to its outlets in
almost all the state capitals. But Shri Agarwal's most significant contribution to public
service has been the leadership he has provided since 1978 to the Antar-Rashtriya Sahayog
Parishad, Bharat (Indian Council for International Cooperation). An NGO, the ARSP has been
engaged in strengthening the existing links between the people of Indian origin all over
the world and their country of origin.
 Member Secretary: Shri JC Sharma
Hailing from a family
with a tradition of service to the Nation, Shri Sharma joined the Armed forces (along with
his two brothers) and took active part in the 1971 war. Shri J C Sharma and one of
his brothers were decorated with the Sena Medal and the Vir Chakra,
respectively, for gallantry in Bangladesh operations. Apart from several stints at
the Headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs and also the Ministry of
Defence , his varied foreign assignments in the diplomatic service took him to places like
Tokyo, Jakarta and Vietnam. A respected scholar, his keen interest in India's cultural
relations with South East Asia resulted in his authoring two highly acclaimed books on
Hindu and other temples in Vietnam. His two tenures as Consul General in Vancouver and
Chicago brought him into close contact with the Indian Diaspora, and gave him an insight
into their problems and difficulties, as well as their varied demands and expectations
from their country of origin. Shri J C Sharma is the Member Secretary of the HLC and also
its Contact Person
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