M A I N   N E W S

Vohra advocates specialised pan-India service for security
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 18
Advocating Union Government's greater role in managing terrorism and security threats, Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra today suggested the formation of a specialised country-wide security administrative service.

He also stressed the need for setting up the much-debated pan-India National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). Delivering the first Air Commodore Jasjit Singh (retd) memorial lecture here, Vohra said the security management apparatus "cannot continue to be run by functionaries of varied backgrounds".

Air Commodore Jasjit Singh, a 1971 war veteran, headed the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS) and was regarded as one of the finest strategic thinkers in the country.

Vohra said the Central Government should establish a national security administrative service whose members, selected from the best available in the country, were trained in specialised areas before being deployed to run security management institutions. He clarified at the onset that the views expressed by him were personal and not of the establishment.

The Central Government could also consider setting up an Empowered Committee of Home Ministers of states to discuss security- related issues, including the proposal of setting up the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), said Vohra.

The NCTC, he said, continues to be debated for the past several years. A number of states, which opposed the establishment of the NCTC in its present form, have suggested that the framework of this body should be revised. Some other states have said the NCTC should not be established through an executive order but through a law enacted by Parliament.

The body should function under the administrative control of the Union Home Ministry instead of the Intelligence Bureau.

"As terror acts and other federal offences cannot be dealt with the existing security management apparatus, it is necessary that the Central Government undertakes urgent discussions with the chief ministers to resolve the doubts and issues raised by states," Vohra, a former Home Secretary and Defence Secretary, said.

The Union Home Ministry could consider various initiatives for promoting trust and mutual understanding between New Delhi and the state capitals. Representatives of states can be inducted in the National Security Advisory Board and the National Security Council, he said.

Coming to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), formed in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, Vohra said: "The NIA needs to be empowered if it is to serve the purpose for which it was established." The police in the states are reluctant and take time in handing over to the NIA even major crime cases which may have serious inter-state or nationwide ramifications, he added.

Many offenses, including major crimes under the IPC, which may be directly linked to terror activities, have still to be brought under the NIA's jurisdiction. The NIA has no power to probe incidents which occur outside India, The director of the agency does not have the powers enjoyed by the state police chiefs to permit an investigating officer dealing with a terror crime to seize property.

Also, the NIA does not have the legal authority to take action to pre-empt or prevent a terror attack, even when it functions in coordination with the states concerned.