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Government may amend NCTC
order after stiff opposition
Monday March 12, 2012 11:42:26 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: The
government may amend its Feb 6 order on an anti-terror
intelligence hub, giving in to stiff opposition from non-Congress
ruled states over fears that the all-powerful agency could reduce
the role of police forces in countering terrorism.
The government's change of heart follows union Home Secretary R.K.
Singh's high-level meeting Monday with state chief secretaries,
home secretaries and police chiefs over the National Counter
Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
Officials from Odisha and West Bengal and the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar raised the
issue relating to powers and functions of the agency that will
collate and analyse inputs on terror activities in India.
A home ministry spokesperson said the "primary concern" raised by
the states was concerning the modalities and details of
operational coordination between the states and the NCTC.
"The need to make the states an effective stakeholder in all
aspects of counter-terrorism domain and in the proposed NCTC
format was a general view expressed by most states and union
territories."
The spokesperson said some of the key points raised in the meeting
included the need to rework the NCTC order to "amplify the powers,
functions and duties of (its) standing council" which will run the
agency and has senior officers of the state police forces on it.
Among other issues raised include the need to ensure that NCTC is
also equally obliged to respond to state governments' requests and
the need to provide resources to upgrade state capabilities.
The NCTC was stalemated as non-Congress states have been trying to
forge a common ground to oppose Home Minister P. Chidambaram's
project for a centralised agency to maintain data of terror
modules, terrorists, their associates, friends, families and
supporters.
The agency has the legal authority to make arrests and conduct
search operations in terror-related cases while keeping state
police concerned into the loop. It derives its powers from the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The representatives of the non-Congress states in the meeting said
the Intelligence Bureau was already doing what NCTC is supposed to
do and there was no need to give power of arrest to the new
agency.
The home secretary assured the states "that their concerns have
been noted and would be suitably addressed", the spokesperson
said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was the first to oppose the
idea after the cabinet Jan 11 granted approval for setting up the
agency that was to come up March 1.
However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose
Trinamool Congress is an important Congress ally in the ruling
United Progressive Alliance (UPA), joined the anti-NCTC chorus
which forced the government to delay its formation.
They have demanded from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a meeting of
state chief ministers to discuss the issue before any final
decision is taken on the operationalisation of the NCTC.
Chidambaram had written back to the chief ministers opposing the
move stating that the NCTC would merely be given bare minimum
power for operational reason under the existing act and state
police would be in the loop in case sleuths of the agency make any
arrests or search operations.
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