PANJIM: The State government has declared the competent authority under the National Security Act (NSA) in the South Goa District for three months.
While the reason for this has not been specified in the notification released by the government on Friday, the order was signed by the Under Secretary (Home – I) Pritidas Gaonkar 10 days ago on June 8.
“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of Section 3 of the National Security Act, 1980, the Government of Goa, having regard to the circumstances prevailing in South Goa District of the State of Goa, is satisfied that it is necessary so to do, hereby directs that during a period of three months from the date of commencement of this order…” the notification states.
After the news went viral, Chief Minister’s Office issued a statement stating that it was a routine exercise. “This is to clarify that under the National Security Act, the order for declaring the competent authority is made every three months. This is a routine order which declares the District Magistrates as the competent authority to dispose of any proposals received under the NSA Act. This has always been there and is not a new thing. This power is delegated by the State Government to District Magistrates or Police Chief, as the case may be, across the country,” states the media statement.
The government is, however, yet to issue a similar order for North District, which it claims as a routine exercise for the South Goa.
Police sources told Herald that pendency of cases against several criminals was the reason for invoking NSA.
Goa Police had last year contemplated invoking NSA in the aftermath of the shootout at St Cruz. Then IGP Jaspal Singh had also directed the respective District SPs to identify habitual and budding criminals in their jurisdiction so as to initiate action against them.
