SC notice on integrated action plan to counter Maoists

The Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the central and nine state governments on a PIL seeking the effective implementation of the integrated action plan to tackle the Maoist menace.

A bench of Chief Justice P.Sathasivam and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai issued notice on a PIL by Kishore Samrite, who contended that even four years after the plan was formulated in 2009, it had not taken off and nothing appears to have been done either by the central government or the Maoist-affected states.

The PIL pointed to the conflicting position of ministries of rural development and home affecting the implementation of the plan.

Besides, the central government, the notice has been issued to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Samrite, a former lawmaker of the Samajwadi Party, told the court that because of tardy implementation of the integrated action plan, there were several incidents of Maoist violence including attack on security forces thereby posing security threat.

He has sought directions to the government to effectively implement the action plan.