Buddha mild,skirts partys objections to NIA

Apart from pointing out certain inadequacies in intelligence sharing between the Centre and states...

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

Apart from pointing out certain inadequacies in intelligence sharing between the Centre and states,West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was on Tuesday surprisingly mild on the UPA Government at the CMs conference on internal security and even skipped the objections his party has to the National Investigating Agency (NIA),a point promptly raised by CPI(M)-ruled Kerala.

The West Bengal Chief Minister,who recently wrote a letter to the Union Home Minister seeking early clearance to some of the pending proposals of his state,also thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram for the initiatives they have taken to strengthen the countrys security against terrorist attacks.

He said the state intelligence agencies hardly receive useful inputs on a regular basis from the office of the Central IB situated in the state. There were several instances of violence caused by terrorists in different parts of the country in the last few months,but the office of SIB in West Bengal could hardly enlighten the state IB and the Home Department on these matters in time, he added.

Story continues below this ad

Bhattacharjee noted that the process of information sharing and coordination between Central IB and state intelligence agencies should essentially be a two-way process. He also said the present arrangements for collection and dissemination of intelligence in states and the Centre was sometimes done in a disjointed manner and the process was far from satisfactory.

But,he did not touch upon the objections raised by his party to the NIA or to some of the amendments in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In Parliament,the CPI(M) has staunchly objected to a provision in the NIA Act that allows it to take charge of investigations without the states approval.

The CPI(M) had also wanted the schedule which mandates investigation by the agency to be split into two those pertaining to the Centre and state.

While Bhattacharjee omitted these points,Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the state felt that in the current scheme of things,there was little to empower the state police forces.

Story continues below this ad

Only cases where the matter is beyond the competence of the state police should go to the NIA. If the NIA is given overriding powers of taking over a case or letting its opinion prevail under all circumstances,this may lead to conflict and even a strain in Centre-state relations. Hence we are of the opinion that there should be a system by which cases are transferred to the NIA only with the consent of the state Government concerned or governments, he said.

He added that the states should not be deprived of its constitutional authority to interpret the significance of a crime or to investigate a criminal offence within its jurisdiction.