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The Prime Minister in his letter said that he has noted their concerns about the manner in which the NCTC will function and assured that he will ask the Home Minister to address them suitably, in consultation with all the Chief Ministers

PM writes to 7 Chief Ministers on NCTC

22-Feb-2012, 10:10

Following a strong disagreement from various Chief ministers belonging to both opposition and allies on setting of the anti-terrorism body-the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), the Prime Minister-Manmohan Singh has written to the seven Chief Ministers addressing their concerns about the NCTC.

Manmohan Singh in his letter stated that the primary purpose of the NCTC is to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts throughout the country, as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been doing so far. He further added that it is for this reason that the NCTC has been located within the IB and not as a separate organization.

The Prime Minister recalled that the idea of such a centre has been under consideration by Government since the Group of Ministers report of 2001 suggested a Joint Task Force on Intelligence and the report was accepted by the Government of the day. He mentioned that the Second Administrative Reforms Commission also suggested that a National Centre for Counter Terrorism be established.

Manmohan Singh made clear that in forming the NCTC, it is not the Government's intent in any way to affect the basic features of the Constitutional provisions and allocation of powers between the States and the Union. The Prime Minister in his letter said that he has noted their concerns about the manner in which the NCTC will function and assured that he will ask the Home Minister to address them suitably, in consultation with all the Chief Ministers.

The Prime Minister's letter was sent separately to Orissa Chief Minister-Naveen Patnaik, West Bengal Chief Minister-Mamta Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister-J Jayalalithaa, Bihar Chief Minister-Nitish Kumar, Gujarat Chief Minister-Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister-Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Tripura Chief Minister-Manik Sharma.