NEW DELHI: Congress leader Manish Tewari on Monday asked the Punjab government why it had not challenged the extended jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) in border states by the Central government.
"It has been close to a month now Central government by notification has extended BSF operational remit in Punjab to 50 Kilometres. Why till now notification has not been challenged by the Punjab government under Article 131 in the Supreme Court of India. Is opposition to it mere tokenism?" tweeted Tewari.
The Centre had earlier in October empowered the Border Security Force (BSF) to conduct searches, arrest suspects and make seizures up to an area of 50 km inside Indian territory from the International Border (IB) along India-Pakistan and India-Bangladesh borders.
The BSF, which was only empowered to take action up to fifteen kilometers in the states of Punjab, West Bengal, and Assam, has now been authorised to extend its jurisdiction up to 50 km without any hurdle or permission either from central or state governments.
However, its jurisdiction has been cut short by 20 km in the five northeastern states-- Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, and Meghalaya-- where it had jurisdiction up to 80 km. Similarly in Gujarat, the BSF's jurisdiction has been curtailed from 80 to 50 km. In Rajasthan, the BSF's area of jurisdiction will remain the same at 50 km.