Punjab challenges central govt decision to increase BSF juridiction in Supreme Court

|B&B|

The State of Punjab has moved the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Central government to increase the territorial jurisdiction of Border Security Force from 15 kilometers (km) to 50 kms off the border, for States including Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. The plea which is an original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution, has challenged the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notification dated October 11, 2021, on the ground that the same is violative of entries 1 (public order) and 2 (police) of List II (State List) of Schedule VII of the Constitution. "It is submitted that the notification dated 11.10.2021 is ultra-vires the Constitution of India as it defeats the purpose of Entry 1 and 2 of List-II of Schedule 7 of the Constitution of India and encroaches upon plaintiff's pleanary authority to legislate on issue which relate to or are necessary for the maintenance of public order and internal peace," the suit filed through advocate Ashok K Mahajan said. The State contended that the notification impinges upon the principle of federalism as it leaves the plaintiff-State powerless as far as legislating on subjects in the State list is concerned.

The suit submitted that the limit of jurisdiction of the BSF in Punjab has remained 15 km from the border in all the previous notifications issued by the MHA since 1969. Further, the MHA did not hold any consultative processes before issuing the October 11 notification, it was claimed. Pertinently, it was submitted that Section 139 of the Border Security Force Act, which deals with powers and duties conferrable and imposable on members of BSF, cannot be read in isolation to bestow unilateral power on the Central government. Punjab also pointed out that 80 per cent of its major cities lie in the border districts. As a matter of fact, all district headquarters of the border districts fall within the newly-prescribed 50 km limit, the suit highlighted. Further, the suit said that Punjab's geography and concerns are strikingly different from other border areas like Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The border area in Punjab is densely populated, whereas the same in Gujarat and Rajasthan comprises of saline marshes and desert land respectively.

Thus, the notification can cause distress to the population of Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Ferozpur, Fazilka, Taran Taran and Amritsar districts; especially the peasantry which has to "cross the barbed wire" to cultivate their land.

This is not the first challenge to the Central government's move to increase the jurisdiction of BSF. A public interest litigation petition is pending before the Calcutta High Court challenging Section 139(1) of the Border Security Force (BSF) Act, 1968 to the extent it grants unrestricted powers to the Central government to fix the territorial jurisdiction of BSF. Besides challenging Section 139(1), the plea filed by advocate Sayan Banerjee has also assailed the October 11 notification of the Union Home Ministry which the Punjab government has assailed before the top court. This plea is slated to be heard by the High Court on December 14.

Meanwhile, the Central government told the parliament on December 7 that increase in the territorial jurisdiction of Border Security Force (BSF) from 15 kilometres to 50 kilometres will better equip the organisation to curb the menace of cattle smuggling and guard against new technology used by 'anti-national' forces.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)