After National Counter-Terrorism Centre proposal some of the Chief Ministers are now gearing up to block another initiative of the Union government, the RPF Amendment Act.
In what can be another headache for the UPA, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the latest proposal goes “against the federal structure of the constitution.”
This was exactly the same argument put forward by a group of CMs when they had made their apprehensions clear on the NCTC. Chief Ministers of states like Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Tripura had opposed the creation of NCTC which was expected to be operational on March 1.
The proposal to empower RPF with police powers has come under attack from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi too.
The provisions being inserted by the proposed amendment of the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957 is not in consonance with the schemes provided under article 246 of the Constitution of India, Modi said.
"Public order" and "police" are state subjects and proposing an amendment on these subjects under entry 22, 30 and 93 of Union List with entry 2 of the concurrent list in schedule VII of the Constitution of India is, not only a step to infringe upon powers of the state but also a serious blow to the federal structure of the Country, he said.
