The Union government decided to operationalise the ambitious National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) from 1 March 2012. A pet project of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the NCTC got approval from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in January 2012.
The operations division of the counter-terrorism body were powers to arrest and carry out searches under Section 43A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
The NCTC is to be located in the Intelligence Bureau and headed by a Director who will be an officer in the rank of Additional Director, IB. It will have three units — gathering intelligence, analysis of intelligence and carrying out operations. Each of these divisions will be headed by a joint director of the IB.
Powers of NCTC
