The Federal Investigation Agency, which the Centre plans to set up, would use the 'Defence of India Rules' and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act as its pillars to combat terror.
Highly placed sources in the government said on Wednesday that the bill to set up the agency will be tabled in
Parliament during the current session itself. It is most likely that the new central agency will be named as the 'Federal Investigation Agency'.
The proposed agency is expected to have special public prosecutors and special courts would be set up to try cases of terror being dealt with by the FIA, they said.
They pointed out that since Parliament is paramount, the new agency can be set up without the consent of the
states." Article 246 of the Constitution clearly states that Parliament is paramount and any state law which is
inconsistent with a law passed by Parliament can be superceded," they contended.
Since the Defence of India comes in the first Central list, the Centre can enact laws to defend the country.
"Mumbai has shown that terrorism is not a law and order problem and may not strictly be a state subject," they
added. Under the Constitution, emergency can be imposed in a limited area and Defence of India Rules can be invoked in the area to deal with an extraordinary situation."But it is not every time that emergency will be imposed to use Defence of India Rules," they said.
The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Defence of India Rules would be used to frame the bill for the proposed
agency and the two, along with the Explosives Act would also be used to make the functioning of the agency effective.
Sources suggested that Central Bureau of Investigation will not be be made into FIA.
The government may also use the UN treaty obligations on drugs, money laundering, insurgency and terrorism to
strengthen the functioning of FIA. Since these are 'Treaty Crimes', a federal agency can deal with such issues.
