| New Delhi, Feb. 17: The Centre today stood by its decision to set up a National Counter-Terrorism Centre after several chief ministers, including Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi, opposed it on the grounds that it encroaches on states' rights. "The NCTC is being formed for better coordination among agencies to fight terror better. We are not passing any new legislation," Union home secretary R.K. Singh said, stressing that it was being established in national interest under an existing law. After Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to his counterparts in Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, describing the NCTC as anti-federal and draconian, Mamata sent a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to "review and withdraw" the decision to set it up. "It is difficult for the state government to accept such an arbitrary exercise of power by the central government/central agency, which will have a bearing on the rights and privileges of the states as enshrined in the Constitution of India," she said. The NCTC is a pet project of home minister P. Chidambaram, who had unveiled his plan to set up an umbrella body covering all anti-terror and intelligence agencies in December 2009 — a year after the 26/11 attack that exposed gaps in the current system. He said the NCTC would be a nodal agency on terrorism that would work to prevent an attack, contain it and "inflict pain upon the perpetrators". It would have intelligence gathering, investigation and operational functions. Resistance to his plan had come from M.K. Narayanan, who was then the national security adviser and is now the governor of Bengal whose chief minister is among those who have raised their voice. Like the chief ministers now, Narayanan had then objected to an all-powerful body overriding state police forces and different agencies at the Centre. Many had seen Chidambaram's plan as an attempt to cut down what the security adviser saw as his fief. But the home minister's original plan of bringing agencies like RAW, the multi-agency centre of the Intelligence Bureau, the National Investigation Agency and the National Security Guard under the NCTC was whittled down and the cabinet last month decided to place it within the IB. The NCTC is to start functioning from March 1. The Congress core committee, which meets every Friday, today asked finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to talk to the Bengal chief minister on her opposition to it. Mamata's letter to the Prime Minister was followed by Jayalalithaa's, who wrote: "I share the concerns of other state chief ministers who have expressed reservations against the attitude of certain ministries in the Government of India acting in a high-handed manner without due consultation with the states." She said the proposed body has provisions that amount to usurping the legitimate rights of states and cited the power to arrest, search and set up inter-state intelligence support teams. Law and order is a state subject under the Constitution. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi joined the chorus today, saying in his letter to Manmohan Singh that the NCTC notification is an attack on the rights of states and should be immediately annulled. Other BJP chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh and Prem Kumar Dhumal of Himachal Pradesh echoed him. But home secretary Singh dismissed the objections, saying the NCTC was being established under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which has been in force since December 1967. "The sections which have been quoted have been on the statute for the past six-seven years," he said. "It is not any new provisions of law or anything like that. That act has been on the statute book for many years. There should not be any controversy." Government sources here said the home secretary had called up the Bengal chief secretary a few days ago to explain that the Centre's police powers under the NCTC would only be terror-related. Trinamul MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy said Mamata is not opposed to NCTC but to the manner in which the notification was issued. "The NSG has been given ample power under Section 43A of UAPA. They can arrest anybody or search any establishment without informing the state. This is an infringement on the federal rights of the state," Roy said. "States should have been consulted before the decision was taken." Nitish Kumar, who too was approached by Patnaik, said: "I may come out with a statement tomorrow." | 
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