Centre blinks, puts NCTC on hold
Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Feb 28, 2012, 01.25AM IST
NEW DELHI: India's ambitious counter-terror body - National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) - will not be operationalized on March 1 as scheduled. The Union home ministry, which set up the agency through a notification on February 3, will not go ahead with crucial appointments for the body and has decided to call a meeting of DGPs and chief secretaries of all states for clarifying contentious issues before making the next move.
The meeting, which is to be chaired by Union home secretary R K Singh, is likely to be held on March 10 before beginning of Parliament's Budget session.
However, since the consent of states is crucial for the success of the NCTC, it appears that the resolution of what is essentially a "political" dispute may have to wait for consultations with CMs. Though the states' officials will attend the meeting taking 'briefs' from their respective CMs, it is highly unlikely that the non-Congress CMs who opposed to the counter-terror body in its present form will convey their nod when some of them seem to be having problems with the concept itself, and not just how the NCTC discharges its responsibilities.
The CMs can, however, get this opportunity between April 14 and 16, when the Centre calls a conference on internal security. It is also believed that the political wrangling over the issue may continue till the meet, which is to be attended by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram.
The conference of CMs was scheduled to be held on February 15, but it was postponed due to assembly polls in five states. Officials indicate that there does not appear to be any window for calling the meeting of CMs before mid-April considering the Parliamentary and budget sessions in many states.
An official said: "The appointments of the director of the counter-terror body has been put on hold after home minister wrote a letter to chief ministers where he had assured that the 'next steps' on NCTC will be taken only after the meeting of DGPs".
Sources in the ministry said that the Union home secretary will invite chief secretaries and home secretaries of all states along with the DGPs and heads of anti-terror wings for the meeting that is likely to be held on March 10 since counting for the assembly polls is slated for March 6 and Holi will be celebrated on March 8.
The CMs, while opposing the notification giving powers of arrest and search to the NCTC, had complained to the PM that the counter-terror body was being set up without any consultation with the state governments and this was not acceptable to them. They also said that the powers given to the NCTC amount to interfering with the jurisdiction of states on 'law and order' and hence, it impinges on the federal structure of the Constitution.
Those who had complained include CMs of West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura.......http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAxMi8wMi8yOCNBcjAwMTAz&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Feb 28, 2012, 01.25AM IST
NEW DELHI: India's ambitious counter-terror body - National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) - will not be operationalized on March 1 as scheduled. The Union home ministry, which set up the agency through a notification on February 3, will not go ahead with crucial appointments for the body and has decided to call a meeting of DGPs and chief secretaries of all states for clarifying contentious issues before making the next move.
The meeting, which is to be chaired by Union home secretary R K Singh, is likely to be held on March 10 before beginning of Parliament's Budget session.
However, since the consent of states is crucial for the success of the NCTC, it appears that the resolution of what is essentially a "political" dispute may have to wait for consultations with CMs. Though the states' officials will attend the meeting taking 'briefs' from their respective CMs, it is highly unlikely that the non-Congress CMs who opposed to the counter-terror body in its present form will convey their nod when some of them seem to be having problems with the concept itself, and not just how the NCTC discharges its responsibilities.
The CMs can, however, get this opportunity between April 14 and 16, when the Centre calls a conference on internal security. It is also believed that the political wrangling over the issue may continue till the meet, which is to be attended by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram.
The conference of CMs was scheduled to be held on February 15, but it was postponed due to assembly polls in five states. Officials indicate that there does not appear to be any window for calling the meeting of CMs before mid-April considering the Parliamentary and budget sessions in many states.
An official said: "The appointments of the director of the counter-terror body has been put on hold after home minister wrote a letter to chief ministers where he had assured that the 'next steps' on NCTC will be taken only after the meeting of DGPs".
Sources in the ministry said that the Union home secretary will invite chief secretaries and home secretaries of all states along with the DGPs and heads of anti-terror wings for the meeting that is likely to be held on March 10 since counting for the assembly polls is slated for March 6 and Holi will be celebrated on March 8.
The CMs, while opposing the notification giving powers of arrest and search to the NCTC, had complained to the PM that the counter-terror body was being set up without any consultation with the state governments and this was not acceptable to them. They also said that the powers given to the NCTC amount to interfering with the jurisdiction of states on 'law and order' and hence, it impinges on the federal structure of the Constitution.
Those who had complained include CMs of West Bengal, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura.......http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAxMi8wMi8yOCNBcjAwMTAz&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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