In a major development, four chief ministers - Mamata Banerjee, Jayalalithaa, Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik - have teamed up against the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
The CMs have demanded a review of the proposed anti-terror body with West Bengal claiming the plan is an 'arbitrary exercise of power by the central government/central agency'.
According to reports, Mamata has even written to the PMO asking Manmohan Singh to 'review and withdraw' the order on organisation, function and power of the newly-constituted NCTC under the ministry of home affairs.
Naveen Patnaik has previously expressed concern over the NCTC's 'draconian powers' and fears the new agency could infringe upon the functioning rights of states.
Deccan Chronicle had reported that once fully operational, on March 1, the NCTC will eventually evolve as an 'umbrella organisation' for all investigations related to cases of terror and organised crime in the country.
What in effect this means is that the NCTC will be fully empowered to not only unilaterally join an ongoing investigation being conducted by any agency at the Central or state-level but also seek any details related to the investigations including the 'case diaries, interrogation reports of the accused persons and even case files'.
Thus, importantly, the role of the NCTC will not just be limited to collecting and analysing counter-terrorism information and data but also play a key role in the investigations.
Further, the role of the NCTC will not just be limited to seeking information from the state police or any other agency. On basis of its own probe and the
inputs provided by the concerned agency the NCTC outfit will then guide them on what line of investigation it can take.
Officials in New Delhi’s security establishment are hopeful that the state police will see reason in this exercise rather than an attempt to interfere in their domain by an external agency.