In the midst of trenchant criticism from several state governments including its petulant ally, TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee over the Centre’s proposed National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday reminded his detractors that ‘security of the country is shared by the Centre and state governments.”
Article 355 of the Constitution, he said, bestows upon the Union government a duty, and that “national security, internal security is a shared responsibility.” Significantly, Banerjee, who has charged the Centre with infringing the federal structure and state rights, on Saturday was absent from the National Security Guard (NSG) hub near Kolkata which was inaugurated by Chidambaram.
In fact, Banerjee has made common cause with other NDA-ruled states, namely Orissa’s Naveen Patnaik, Gujarat’s CM Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal as well as Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh. Tamil Nadu’s Jayalalitha has also opposed the setting up of NCTC. The fact that Banerjee, a significant UPA ally, has joined in the Opposition chorus has miffed the government.
However, MoS in the PMO V Narayanasamy, speaking to Business Standard, said, “We will ensure that all states are on board and we will carry every one along.”
The NCTC was scheduled to be operational from March 1. Home ministry sources say the government intends to keep NCTC on track despite opposition from states, which is being viewed as essentially “politically motivated.”
On February 14, Banerjee had written to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “review and withdraw” the proposal for NCTC. “It is difficult for the state government to accept such arbitrary exercise of power by the central government/central agency, which have a bearing on the rights and privilege of the states as enshrined in the Constitution of India,” she said.
| FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM What is NCTC? Post 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai, the home ministry floated the idea of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) as an agency to “prevent a terrorist attack, contain a terrorist act should one take place and respond to a terrorist attack by inflicting pain on the perpetrators”. The agency was modelled on the lines of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, which was formed after the 9/11 attacks. Agencies under NCTC In the proposed NCTC, a number of security establishments of the country will come under the control of the NCTC such as the National Investigation Agency, National Technical Research Organisation, Joint Intelligence Committee, NSG, etc. Who heads the NCTC? A police or a military officer is expected to head the agency and will report to the Home Minister, Home Secretary and IB chief. The agency would be under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Powers of NCTC? The agency will have the mandate to deal with all kinds of terrorist violence anywhere in the country. NCTC would initially perform functions relating to intelligence and investigation but is ultimately envisioned to also conduct operations in such cases. Why are the states protesting? As NCTC will have the power to conduct independent investigation, chief ministers of several states, including West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, have protested the formation of NCTC stating it infringes on powers of state govt in matters of investigation and maintenance of law and order. When will it become functional? It is scheduled to become operational on March 1, 2012. |
Government sources question these objections citing the fact that at present, all law enforcement agencies in a state share information with the multi-agency centres (MAC) existing in states. MACs will ultimately be subsumed within the NCTC. Data sharing has been made mandatory; all states and Central agencies will be required to share data and intelligence with the NCTC.
Banerjee, among others, has pointed out to the overarching authority of the NCTC to make arrests or conduct searches in terror-related cases, which she considers as a violation of state authority. The NCTC will derive powers from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The notification for setting up of the NCTC was issued on February 3, after the proposal received clearance from the Cabinet.
As the NCTC requires no separate law to function, it will be interesting too see whether the government blinks like always when under attack from Banerjee or will it steamroll over all dissent.
