Centre not to operationalise NCTC, will wait for states’ nod

The home ministry will not operationalise the National Counter Terrorism Centre on March 1 but will instead wait to take state governments on board at a meeting of police chiefs after the ongoing assembly elections.

The home ministry will not operationalise the National Counter Terrorism Centre on March 1 but will instead wait to take state governments on board at a meeting of police chiefs after the ongoing assembly elections.

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The home ministry decision is in line with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s claim that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had promised to put the centre on hold. Banerjee — the only Congress ally from amongst a dozen CMs of opposition-ruled states — has been one of the loudest opponents of the NCTC.

In a letter to chief ministers soon after, home minister P Chidambaram had promised that the “next steps” on the NCTC would be taken after the meeting of police chiefs and heads of state anti-terror units.

A home ministry official said the meeting was slated to be convened on or around March 9-10. The official said it was decided not to appoint the NCTC director and three joint director-level officers before the meeting as a symbolic gesture.

Also, the home ministry has decided to extend the invitation to chief secretaries and home secretaries as well.

This would ensure that while the police chiefs and anti-terror unit heads speak from the security and operational perspective, the administrators — chief secretaries and home secretaries — would present an administrative and legal perspective of the states concerned.

The interaction, another official said, was in any way desirable before launching an inter-state initiative of the kind to ensure smoother coordination.

It is, however, not clear if the critics of the NCTC would be satisfied with the official-level interaction. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh on Monday demanded the Centre convene a special session of the National Integration Council to discuss NCTC.