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Shinde to consult CMs on NCTC
Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Aug 9, 2012, 03.28AM IST
NEW DELHI: Hinting at his approach to deal with controversial matters, including the proposed anti-terror body NCTC, new Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde will shortly write to all the CMs seeking their suggestions on how to deal with internal security challenges in a coordinated manner.
An elaborate note to get states' view has been prepared even as Shinde recalled from the Cabinet Secretariat the revised plan of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) for another round of review.
Facing strong opposition from several CMs to the earlier proposal of the counter-terror body, the home ministry under then home minister P Chidambaram had prepared a revised plan for implementing the project and sent it to the Cabinet Secretariat for presentation before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
The move to recall this revised draft by Shinde comes amid indication that the government is not going to operationalize the central anti-terror body in a hurry as officials, who had been pitching for it under Chidambaram, hinted that they now expect another round of consultations before sending it to the CCS.
"The note which is to be sent to states by Shinde, however, does not cover the contentious counter-terror body alone. The home minister intends to seek chief ministers' opinion on a whole gamut of issues concerning internal security," said a senior official.
Recalling the plan of the country's premier anti-terror agency assumes significance in view of what Shinde had expressed immediately after assuming the charge on August 1. Asked whether he would go ahead with the plan to set up NCTC, he had said that he would first like to talk to the states.
"I am open. Let me talk to the states also. I have to talk and get cooperation from all. This country belongs to the states," he had said, adding there was a need to plug the gaps in ties between states and the Centre.
"The new home minister has to be briefed on this proposed body. So, the proposal has been brought back. It will be sent to CCS only after he examines it properly," a senior official said.
The revised plan suggests that NCTC will be kept out of the ambit of the Intelligence Bureau and will be an independent entity directly reporting to the home ministry. Besides, the anti-terror body will conduct operations on its own only under exceptional circumstances or in rare cases.
The revised plan was prepared after the Centre faced strong opposition to NCTC from chief ministers, including from UPA ally Mamata Banerjee. Others who opposed it include CMs like Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu) and Narendra Modi (Gujarat) among others. They alleged NCTC armed with such sweeping powers will hurt the federal structure of the country.
Under the earlier plan for this body which was notified by the government in February, the Multi-Agency Centre and the operations wing of the Intelligence Bureau were to be subsumed into the NCTC having powers to arrest, search and seizures in terror-related operations...............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMDgvMDkjQXIwMTcwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Shinde to consult CMs on NCTC
Vishwa Mohan |TNN | Aug 9, 2012, 03.28AM IST
NEW DELHI: Hinting at his approach to deal with controversial matters, including the proposed anti-terror body NCTC, new Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde will shortly write to all the CMs seeking their suggestions on how to deal with internal security challenges in a coordinated manner.
An elaborate note to get states' view has been prepared even as Shinde recalled from the Cabinet Secretariat the revised plan of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) for another round of review.
Facing strong opposition from several CMs to the earlier proposal of the counter-terror body, the home ministry under then home minister P Chidambaram had prepared a revised plan for implementing the project and sent it to the Cabinet Secretariat for presentation before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).
The move to recall this revised draft by Shinde comes amid indication that the government is not going to operationalize the central anti-terror body in a hurry as officials, who had been pitching for it under Chidambaram, hinted that they now expect another round of consultations before sending it to the CCS.
"The note which is to be sent to states by Shinde, however, does not cover the contentious counter-terror body alone. The home minister intends to seek chief ministers' opinion on a whole gamut of issues concerning internal security," said a senior official.
Recalling the plan of the country's premier anti-terror agency assumes significance in view of what Shinde had expressed immediately after assuming the charge on August 1. Asked whether he would go ahead with the plan to set up NCTC, he had said that he would first like to talk to the states.
"I am open. Let me talk to the states also. I have to talk and get cooperation from all. This country belongs to the states," he had said, adding there was a need to plug the gaps in ties between states and the Centre.
"The new home minister has to be briefed on this proposed body. So, the proposal has been brought back. It will be sent to CCS only after he examines it properly," a senior official said.
The revised plan suggests that NCTC will be kept out of the ambit of the Intelligence Bureau and will be an independent entity directly reporting to the home ministry. Besides, the anti-terror body will conduct operations on its own only under exceptional circumstances or in rare cases.
The revised plan was prepared after the Centre faced strong opposition to NCTC from chief ministers, including from UPA ally Mamata Banerjee. Others who opposed it include CMs like Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu) and Narendra Modi (Gujarat) among others. They alleged NCTC armed with such sweeping powers will hurt the federal structure of the country.
Under the earlier plan for this body which was notified by the government in February, the Multi-Agency Centre and the operations wing of the Intelligence Bureau were to be subsumed into the NCTC having powers to arrest, search and seizures in terror-related operations...............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTIvMDgvMDkjQXIwMTcwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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