Guwahati, Feb. 15: The Union home ministry today submitted in Gauhati High Court that Z-plus security to former chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta will continue but the NSG Black Cat commandos will be replaced by CRPF commandos.
According to the home ministry, the move will not affect Mahanta's security since CRPF commandos are also competent in protecting the VVIPs.
On behalf of the home ministry, assistant solicitor-general S.C. Kayal submitted the written submission today before the single-judge bench of Justice Arup Kumar Goswami in response to a petition filed by Mahanta against the home ministry's decision to withdraw his NSG cover.
The court asked Kayal to give the submissions in the form of an affidavit and fixed February 22 as the next date of hearing.
Last Monday, the court had asked the home ministry to submit the policy followed on providing NSG cover and why Mahanta's security was reviewed twice in two months.
The home ministry today informed the court that a list of VVIPs who get NSG protection is reviewed periodically on an all-India basis and accordingly, the security provided to former Assam chief ministers Mahanta and Tarun Gogoi was reassessed.
Kayal said Z-plus security of both the leaders will continue and only the CRPF commandoes will replace the NSG commandos.
Though both Mahanta and Gogoi sniff "political conspiracy" by the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state behind this decision, the Centre maintains that it is in line with the state government's efforts to stop the specialised counter-terror force from performing VIP security duty.
The process to reduce VVIP security duties of the black cat commandos began in 2012-13 when the elite force decided to pull out about 900 commandos from the duty to train them for specialised tasks related to counter-terror and counter-hijack operations, for which NSG was originally raised in 1984.
But, ironically, NSG cover was granted to incumbent Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal recently based on the Intelligence Bureau's assessment of threats from outfits like Ulfa (Independent).
