All efforts on to set up federal agency: Home Ministry

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pitching for a federal agency to handle terrorist offences, the Home Ministry is trying to expedite the draft of the proposed legal framework for getting it approved by the Cabinet.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pitching for a federal agency to handle terrorist offences, the Home Ministry is trying to expedite the draft of the proposed legal framework for getting it approved by the Cabinet.

“All efforts are on to get it expedited,” Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said, when asked as to how long it would take to implement the proposal mooted by Singh in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strikes.

High level sources in the Ministry said the draft was being prepared on the lines of the recommendations made by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by M Veerappa Moily.

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They said the National Security Act, 1980 is likely to be amended to constitute a National Security Authority that will take charge of administration and supervision of all investigations of terrorism-related crime having inter-state ramifications and cross-border links.

The Authority, which would have a chairman and five members, would also be responsible for prosecuting the accused. Under this plan, each state is likely to have a Security Commissioner, preferably a senior IPS officer, reporting directly to the Authority.

The draft provides for stringent bail provisions, fast track courts, death penalty and allows the states to freeze assets and bank accounts of terror accused and their overt and covert sympathisers and sponsors.