Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai (File Photo | ANI)
New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday said in Lok Sabha the governments of West Bengal and Punjab have expressed their apprehensions over a notification extending the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) in certain states and termed them "ill-founded".
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai was responding to an unstarred question raised by MP's Ravneet Singh BIttu (Congress), Deepak Baij (Congress), Sougata Ray (Trinamool Congress). The Minister said that the extension of BSF's territorial jurisdiction would result in better and more effective control on trans-border crimes in conjunction and cooperation with state police.
He said the central government has amended the 2014 notifications and extended the jurisdiction of the BSF in certain states through a notification on October 11, 2021.
Section 139(1) (i) of the BSF Act, 1968 empowers the central government to confer powers and duties on members of the force in respect of any central acts for the purposes specified therein.
"The government of West Bengal and the government of Punjab have expressed their apprehension that such a move encroaches upon the powers of the state government. Their apprehensions are ill-founded," Rai said replying to the written question.