Chhattisgarh Government on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court demanding that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act 2008 should be declared unconstitutional.
The State Government has filed an original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution, which provides for the state to move directly to the Supreme Court in matters of dispute against the Centre.
According to Chhattisgarh Advocate General Satish Chandra Verma the Indian constitution clearly says that policing is a matter of state government.
However, the NIA Act empowers NIA to interfere with police investigation in the state. This makes the act unconstitutional, Verma claims
“The question is that the central government has made a ‘police system’ through the NIA Act. Do we need a centrally empowered agency for the offenses committed in the local area (eight categories of crimes have been kept in it). And does the constitution allow this? We believe that the Central Government cannot do this under the constitution, because the constitution says that police is a state subject,” Verma said.
As per the Advocate General, the Act empowers Central Government to launch any investigation as per their wishes and also abandon it without any explanation.
“No act and law can be made outside the provision of the constitution and if it has happened then such act should be abolished as being unconstitutional,” Verma added.
He also claimed that Chhattisgarh is the first state to move against the NIA Act 2008.
Notably, in November 2019 Chhattisgarh high court had dismissed a writ appeal filed by the State Government that challenged the order of a court which had directed that the investigation into killing of BJP MLA Bima Mandavi should be done by the NIA.
It may be also mentioned that the NIA Act was introduced by the Congress-led UPA Government following the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.