Soman Baby NRI commission member

Manama : A five-member Pravasi ( Non-Resident Indian) Commission with quasi-judicial powers has been set up by the Indian state government of Kerala. DT News Chief Editor Soman Baby  has been appointed as one of the members of this prestigious NRI commission. Kerala High Court Justice P Bhavadasan is the chairman of the commission. The other  members are Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, an Abu Dhabi-based doctor and head of VPS Healthcare, Bhagwat Singh , a former President of the Sharjah Indian Association who currently lives in Kerala, and PMA Salam, former chairman of the Kerala state government's Pravasi Welfare Board.

The responsibility of the NRI  Commission includes protection of rights, interests and properties of NRIs, interactions with State and Central governments for protecting their interests, prevention of fake overseas recruitments and taking up issues of inappropriate actions against expatriates. The objectives of the Commission are to ensure that the NRIs, without any discrimination receive the services of various government departments and agencies that have different guidelines and laws for functioning and to make sure that issues pertaining to the lives of NRIs are given equal consideration.  The commission will allow the diaspora complainants to engage a lawyer who will be appearing before the panel and the complainant need not waste his/her time for resolving issues. Justice Bhavadasan will take charge after his retirement from the Judicial Service on March 31. 

‘The new appointment adds to my responsibility in the social and community involvement’ Soman Baby said. ‘I will do my best in justifying the confidence placed in me by the government and seek the wholehearted support of the Kerala community in Bahrain and the rest of the world’,he added. 

Soman Baby who has been leading an expat life in Bahrain for more than three decades, has been awarded  Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest award instituted by the Government of India for Overseas Indians, in 2009.  He also won Media Pioneer Award from Bahrain's Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in 2014. Soman Baby is the President of YMCA Bahrain and Director of Royal Bahrain Hospital and New Horizon School Bahrain. He is also Global Advisory Board member and former Global Chairman of World Malayalee Council. The NRI Commission will be based in Thiruvananthapuram and  will have its sitting once in thee months. The Commission can initiate enquiry on its own, based on complaints received by it and based on the request of the government and  can submit its report to the government with recommendations for action. Punjab is the only other state, which has a commission for NRIs.