Central forces can't substitute state police: Home ministry to states

With the deployment and pulling out of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the states often becoming a tug-of-war between the Centre and state governments, the Centre has now clearly stated that CAPFs “cannot substitute the state police force” since their deployment is related to emergent or unforeseen crises.

This comes in the backdrop of an ongoing standoff between the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the West Bengal government over the pulling out of central forces from the hill town of Darjeeling which has witnessed unrest for the past few weeks over demands of creation of a separate state.

In the past, too, there have been many instances where the Centre has found itself in situations where state governments have contested its decisions over either deployment or pulling out of central forces.

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The Centre has now decided to set-up a state-level committee to examine and scrutinize the requirements of CAPF by keeping in view the internal security, previous scale of deployment, optimal utilisation of state resources, intelligence inputs and the availability of CAPFs in nearby locations.

This committee will be headed by ADG (Law & Order) of the state and will co-op local representatives of the Intelligence Bureau and the CAPFs at the DIG/Commandant level.

“The recommendation of the Committee must be specific and indicate the quantum of CAPF deployment and duration along with justification. Requests for extension of deployment and increase in the quantum must also be examined by the Committee on similar lines,” the MHA has told the state governments.

Arguing its case, the Centre has said that “state governments often make requests to the Centre for deployment of CAPFs even for occasions where State should normally be in a position to take all security measures from their own resources by dispatching police and state armed police” and are “are reluctant to de-induct CAPFs and keep requesting for extension which should not ordinarily be made unless there are adequate security for their extension”.

With the new Standard Operating Procedures in place, the Centre hopes that the CAPFs will “be able to meet more pressing commitments like guarding borders, fighting insurgency, anti-naxal operations and related situations which need immediate mobilization of forces”.