NCTC to keep state in the loop

The home ministry has framed ground rules for the controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre that requires the central agency to keep the state police in the loop - a concession to buy the support of chief ministers at their meeting next weekend.

The home ministry has framed ground rules for the controversial National Counter Terrorism Centre that requires the central agency to keep the state police in the loop - a concession to buy the support of chief ministers at their meeting next weekend.

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The ground rules - drafted in the wake of reservations expressed by police chiefs and chief secretaries at their meet last month - have been sent to the states ahead of the CMs meeting on May 5.

Nearly a dozen states, including West Bengal, opposed the NCTC's powers to unilaterally search, seize and arrest any suspected terrorist in the country. They argue the initiative - finalised without consulting them - encroached on their powers.

Home secretary RK Singh had declared that the concerns of the states would be addressed in the standard operating procedures to be finalised for the NCTC. Chidambaram had promised to circulate the SoPs ahead of the May 5 meeting.

But the concession is unlikely to satisfy West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee or the NDA-ruled chief ministers, who want the notification constituting the NCTC to be toned down.