Mamata slams Centre, says NCTC not acceptable

Slamming the Centre for taking a unilateral decision on formation of  National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), key UPA ally and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said such institutions "upset" the federal structure of the country and was "not acceptable" to the state.

She said setting up of institutions like NCTC with the proposed powers of arrest and seizure upsets the federal structure of the country and strongly urged the central government to withdraw order on its formation.

"It is unfortunate that in utter disregard to these federal principles, the NCTC was set up by an executive order dated February 3, 2012 of the Union Home Ministry without adequate consultations with the States.

 

"These kind of unilateral steps of the Union Government in matters which fall within the jurisdictions of the States only increases the trust-deficit between the Centre and States," Mamata said in a especially convened meeting of Chief Ministers on the constitution of NCTC here.

The Centre's decision of creating NCTC has caused clamour among many State Governments including West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Odisha among others strongly opposing the move taken without consulting them.

Mamata said setting up of an institutions like the NCTC with the proposed powers of arrest, search and seizure "greatly upsets the constitutionally-mandated federal structure of the country by infringing on the power of the States".