NCTC could be misused for political purposes: Chouhan

NEW DELHI: Accusing the Union Government of attempting to centralise police powers, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said today the NCTC could be misused for "political purposes".

Chouhan said the NCTC, in its present form, is against the federal structure laid down in the Constitution and demanded that all stakeholders be treated equally as team members for success in fighting terrorism.

"Numerous security analysts have opined that NCTC under the Intelligence Bureau is prone to political misuse. This contention appears to be true as NCTC in proposed format is likely to be misused for political purposes.

"Security experts have also visualised that by carrying out operations on its own, NCTC will get bogged down in court cases and human right issues. The above contentions are real, based on the past experiences and therefore, needs to be resolved," Chouhan said at the Meeting of Chief Ministers.

The conference was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram.

"I do not consider the provisions for creation of NCTC to be in accordance with the federal structure enshrined in our Constitution," the MP Chief Minister said.

Chouhan also hit out against the central government for neglecting the states in framing terror related policies.

"On one side, the government of India emphasises on coordination among state and central security agencies and on the other hand, state authorities are overlooked in deciding counter terror policies. Continuous neglect of state agencies in this direction shows the growing tendency of centralisation. No consultation was done with the state agencies in amendment of UAPA in 2008 or while creating the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"Order on NCTC is another step taken in this sequence. Proposed amendments in BSF and RPF Act are also examples of attempts of centralisation of policy powers by the Centre," he said.