The Centre wants it, states don’t. This is the sordid tale of the long-pending plan to set up a federal crime agency, on the lines of the FBI, to deal with terrorism-related crimes.
States oppose central proposal fearing loss of grip over law and order
NEW DELHI: The Centre wants it, states don’t. This is the sordid tale of the long-pending plan to set up a federal crime agency, on the lines of the FBI, to deal with terrorism-related crimes. Terrorism and money laundering are among the half-a-dozen crimes to be brought under the proposed agency.
The over-two-decade-old idea has once again stuck in Centre-state squabbles as a recent proposal by the Union home ministry has also not found favour with the states. Virtually diluting its earlier plan to set up an all-powerful federal agency with powers to suo motu take up cases for investigation, the ministry has now proposed a consultative mechanism with powers to screen cases before referring them to the proposed agency.
The consultative committee will also have powers to stop a case from being referred to the agency. Apart from the Centre’s nominees, it will have the chief secretary and director general of police of the state concerned as members.
The new proposal, mooted at a high-level meeting with chief ministers in December last year, has evoked virtually no response from the states. Ministry sources said only five states have responded so far. Barring Sikkim, the remaining four, which include the BJP-ruled Rajasthan and Gujarat, have opposed it.
They feel such a move will loosen their grip on law and order, which presently is a state subject, and give more powers to the Centre to “unnecessarily” meddle in state affairs.
The talk of a federal agency has gained currency in view of the failure of the state governments to prevent terrorism-related cases due to ineffective intelligence, leading to a Centre-state blame game.
It has also resulted in a debate that the proposal will lead to some kind of overlapping with the CBI. Although the idea of a federal agency is still to take a final shape, it is also being proposed in certain quarters to empower the CBI, by amending the relevant Act, to investigate federal crimes.
“Such things can be worked out at a later stage. The perquisite is the concurrence of the states to the proposal,” ministry sources said.
The proposal for a federal agency was also pursued by the NDA regime when LK Advani was the home minister. However, a serious effort was made only in 2006-07 when the first draft was circulated among the states. It was rejected outright by 25 states.
a_anil@dnaindia.net
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