Stringent Gujarat crime law to be model for states?
Gujcoca Bill was cleared twice by the Gujarat Assembly but UPA the move
New Delhi: Among one of the key issues to be dealt by the new BJP-led government at the Centre on a priority basis would be to give consent to the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Act (Gujcoca) that has remained a highly contentious issue between the Gujarat government and the UPA over the last few years.
Although the Gujcoca Bill was cleared twice by the Gujarat Assembly, the UPA at the Centre had stonewalled the move fearing that the stringent provisions of the Act might be misused by the state government. But now with the change of dispensation at the Centre, sources said that clearing Gujcoca is a “top priority.’’
Not just this, the BJP may go a step forward and encourage state governments to have stringent laws like Gujcoca and MCOCA to deal with organised crime.
The issue of clearing Gujcoca, sources added, was discussed by the Prime Minister-elect during a meeting with Ajit Doval, the former chief of Intelligence Bureau who is also tipped to be the next National Security Advisor.
Sources added that Mr Modi, also enquired about expediting Gujcoca from home secretary Anil Goswami when he met him on Monday.
Internal security will be one of the key areas on which the new PM will be focusing personally in the days to come. There is already talks of internal security being taken out of the home ministry’s purview and making it into a separate ministry which would be headed by a minister of state reporting directly to the Prime Minister.