Punjab has filed a suit in the Supreme Court against the Centre’s move to increase the limits of jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) from 15 to 50 km along the Indo-Pak international border.
The State has filed an original suit challenging the October 11 notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs extending the central force’s area of jurisdiction, calling it a breach of the federal form of governance under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has asked the advocate on record for the Centre to appear when the case is called out.
Punjab said the notification issued under Section 139 of the Border Security Force Act, 1968 encroaches into a State subject in List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
The State said it was neither consulted nor even in the know before the issuance of the notification in October. The notification was unilateral. It pointed out that earlier notifications from 1969 to 2014 had limited the BSF jurisdiction to 15 km from the international border in Punjab.
The State said many districts, towns and villages of Punjab fall within the 50 km radius and come within the jurisdiction of the State government.
