Charanjit Singh Channi-led Punjab government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the central government’s decision to extend the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) to a 50 km belt along the international border in the State.Under Article 131, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction to deal with any dispute between the Centre and a state, the Centre and a state on the one side and another state on the other side, and between two or more states.
The plea said that the effect of the notification dated October 11, 2021, is that “it amounts to encroachment upon the powers and the role of the plaintiff-state of Punjab by the Centre, inasmuch as more than 80% of the border districts, all the major towns and cities including all the district headquarters of Punjab fell within 50 km area from the Indo-Pakistan international border”.
The petition said the notification is ultra vires the Constitution as it defeats the purpose of Entry 2 of List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution which says police and law and order are state subjects and it encroaches the state’s plenary authority to legislate on issues which relate to or are necessary for the maintenance of peace and public order.
The matter will come up before a Supreme Court bench after four weeks. In October, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi too had condemned the move and urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to roll back the decision.
Earlier, the BSF’s jurisdiction was a 15 km belt along the border.In the area under its jurisdiction, BSF officers have powers of arrest, search and seizure on par with their counterparts in the police.
In its notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs had said, “The amendment effected on October 11, 2021 establishes uniformity in defining the area within which Border Security Force can operate as per its charter of duties and execution of its role and task of border guarding in its areas of deployment. This will also enable improved operational effectiveness in curbing trans-border crime.”The area under BSF jurisdiction in Gujarat has been reduced to a 50 km belt from an 80 km one. It has remained the same in Rajasthan at 50 km. In Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, no limit has been prescribed, as was the case earlier.Section 139 of the Border Security Force Act, 1968, which empowers the Centre to notify the force’s jurisdiction, requires that any such order be laid before each House of Parliament. The Houses can modify or annul these orders.
