NCTC: Centre, state govts fail to end impasse

New Delhi: A logjam over the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) persisted on Monday after officials of the home ministry and state governments failed to resolve differences over powers of arrest and coordination among various agencies.

Officials from states ruled by parties other than the Congress party, such as Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, registered their protest at a meeting convened at the direction of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the national capital.

They objected to powers being given to NCTC to override state police forces, according to officials present at the meeting.

The meeting was attended by police chiefs, home secretaries, chief secretaries and heads of anti-terror agencies.

“Many said the Intelligence Bureau was already doing the same work and what was the need for another body?” an official who attended the meeting said on condition of anonymity. “The ministry of home affairs has taken note of the issues and will work on them. We are expecting that another round of meetings between the states and Union home ministry will be called before arriving at any conclusion.”

“States were assured that their concerns have been noted and would be suitably addressed,” the home ministry said in a statement.

Singh had asked home minister P. Chidambaram last month to resolve issues raised by chief ministers of at least 10 states, including Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal. Her Trinamool Congress party is a key ally of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. The chief ministers accused the Union government of not taking them into confidence before creating an overarching agency that would cover the existing police mechanism in the country, given that law and order is a state subject.

NCTC, which was supposed to come into being on 1 March, will remain in abeyance till a consensus has been arrived at between the states and the union government.