Govt withdraws Bill on giving search-seizure powers to BSF

The Rajya Sabha today allowed the government to withdraw a Bill which aimed at amending the Border Security Force Act, 1968 giving the paramilitary force search and seizure powers anywhere in India.
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, on behalf of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, moved a motion seeking to withdraw the Bill which aimed at amending the Border Security Force Act, 1968.
The question was put to the House which gave its assent to the withdrawal of the Bill.
The Border Security Force (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2012, by the UPA government.
At present, the Centre has given powers to BSF personnel in border areas under the Customs Act, the Passport Act, the NDPS Act and the CrPC to arrest, search and seize within the prescribed border belt, which is 80 km in Gujarat, 50 km in Rajasthan and 15 km in West Bengal, Assam and Punjab, it is learnt. No such limit has been prescribed for J&K and five Northeastern states of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur.

However the Bill, which would have given more powers to BSF, had drawn opposition and criticism from some quarters as it had been viewed as being against the federal structure and encroaching on the rights of the states.