By IANS,
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to reconsider the setting up of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
The letter comes a day after he joined the chief ministers from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Bihar in opposing the anti-terror hub plan.
Chouhan said the creation of such an authority without consultation with state governments was a terrible blow to the spirit of federalism.
He said that public order and police were a state subject, and therefore, the states were required to legislate and implement the laws on them.
The chief minister in his letter wrote that the central government had taken a unilateral action for he creation of the NCTC and empowered it under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, vesting its officers with powers to arrest and search anywhere in the country.
Chouhan said the state government had always been committed to taking steps against terrorism and organised crime.
In order to create an effective mechanism for countering terrorism in the state and to empower the state law enforcing agencies, the Madhya Pradesh Terrorism and Organised Crime Control Bill was passed by the assembly in 2007, he said.
The bill was not approved by the central government till date, he said.