NEW DELHI, Apr 16: A Parliamentary Committee has recommended that the Union Home Ministry should immediately revive the idea of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) proposed by the previous UPA government and pursued vigorously by the then Home Minister P Chidambaram, as a single, unified and premier counter-terrorism agency.
In its report to Parliament in the just concluded second part of the Budget session, the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended that the Union Home Ministry should re-issue the notification laying down the power, functions and duties of the NCTC.
The 30-member Committee, headed by Mr Chidambaram himself, observed that Article 355 of the Constitution casts a duty upon the Union to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance.
“This duty assumes more importance in the present scenario where terrorism, insurgency and Left Wing Extremism have affected almost every State of India,” it said in its report.
The Committee observed that the notification of NCTC which was issued in 2012 has neither been rescinded nor operationalised as yet. It felt that the Home Ministry must not keep this notification in abeyance endlessly and recommended that a decision to re-issue the notification must be taken immediately.
While there are agencies like NIA, IB, MAC and NSG and some in the pipeline like NATGRID that are cumulatively capable of addressing the menace of terrorism and insurgency, thre is no single unified authority to coordinate the operations of these agencies and ensue a quick response in times of crisis like the 26/11 attack, it said.
The Committee said several States have objected to NCTC and other agencies also might have their reservations, it, however, felt that the larger issue of national security should be given paramount importance. It said that adequate consultations have been held between the Central Government and the States on the issue of NCTC. (UNI)
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