Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday accused the UPA Government of violating the federal spirit of constitution by providing all encompassing and sweeping powers to the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) being set up in the Intelligence Bureau.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Friday, Naidu sought that the order of the Ministry of Home Affairs be withdrawn with immediate effect. He suggested that the UPA government initiate debate with all political parties and State Governments on such a vital issue impacting the Centre-State relationship on a long term basis.
Naidu said that the Director of NCTC, specified as designated authority under the section 2C of the Unlawful Activities Act (Prevention) 1967, would have unbridled powers for his officers, could arrest and conduct searches without prior consultation with the concerned State Governments.
He said the NCTC officers would have powers to have access to information, documents or reports from all the civil authorities directly from the functionaries of the State Government. “It is quite inexplicable that such an important order, having ramifications over Centre-State relations has been issued without prior consultations with the State Governments,” he said.
Naidu said the order was against the spirit of cooperative federalism enshrined in the Constitution.
–Agencies