{"id":39282,"date":"2024-01-25T12:59:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T07:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=39282"},"modified":"2025-04-24T08:00:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T02:30:55","slug":"bsf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/bsf\/","title":{"rendered":"The issue of expansion of BSF jurisdiction"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>What is Border Security Force (BSF)?<\/li>\n<li>Background: Expansion of the jurisdiction of BSF<\/li>\n<li>From which law the Centre draws its authority to take such step?<\/li>\n<li>Need for such step<\/li>\n<li>News Summary: The issue of expansion of BSF jurisdiction<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Supreme Court is set to hear the dispute over the expansion of the Border Security Force (BSF) jurisdiction in Punjab.<\/li>\n<li>In October2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification expanding the jurisdiction of the BSF in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.<\/li>\n<li>This was challenged by the Punjab government the following December.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Border Security Force (BSF)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>About\n<ul>\n<li>It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India and was raised in December 1965.\n<ul>\n<li>It was raised in the wake of the 1965 War to ensure the security of the borders of India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It is the only CAPF which has its own\u00a0Water Wing, Air Wing and other ancillary units.<\/li>\n<li>The Force Headquarters is in New Delhi.<\/li>\n<li>It works under the <u>administrative control of Ministry of Home Affairs<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Its operational responsibility is spread over 6,386.36 km of International Border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Operations:\n<ul>\n<li>Peace Time Role\n<ul>\n<li>Prevent trans-border crimes, unauthorized entry into or exit from the territory of India.<\/li>\n<li>Prevent smuggling and any other illegal activity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>War Time Role\n<ul>\n<li>Protection of vital installations particularly air-fields<\/li>\n<li>Limited aggressive action against Para military or irregular forces of the enemy within the overall plan of the Armed forces<\/li>\n<li>Assistance in control of refugees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Overseas Deployment:\n<ul>\n<li>BSF contributes its personnel every year for UN Missions.<\/li>\n<li>It is handling the security issues on the famous Kartarpur Corridor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Other roles\n<ul>\n<li>It is also deployed on Line of Control (LoC) in J&amp;K under the Operational control of the Army.<\/li>\n<li>At the time of natural disaster\/calamities, BSF provides assistance in areas of deployment such as:\n<ul>\n<li>Kashmir flood in 2014,<\/li>\n<li>Kerala flood in 2018 and<\/li>\n<li>Kedarnath Tragedy in 2013.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Power to arrest, search and seize\n<ul>\n<li>BSF is empowered to arrest, search and seize under a number of laws, such as the Criminal Procedure Code, the Passports Act 1967, the Passport (Entry into India) Act 1920, and the NDPS Act, to name a few.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Background: Expansion of the jurisdiction of BSF<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier, the BSF could exercise its powers within 15 kilometres of the border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.<\/li>\n<li>Later, through a notification issued in October 2021, the Centre expanded this to within 50 kilometres of the border.\n<ul>\n<li>The notification states that, within this larger 50-kilometre jurisdiction, <u>the BSF can only exercise powers under the Criminal Procedure Code, the Passport (Entry into India) Act and the Passports Act<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>For other central legislations, the 15-km limit remains.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>From which law the Centre draws its authority to take such step?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Section 139 of the Border Security Force Act, 1968<\/u>, empowers the Centre to notify the area and extent of border force\u2019s operational mandate.\n<ul>\n<li>Every order (notification) made under Section 139 of this act must be subsequently laid before each house of Parliament.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Using this act, Centre issues notification revising the \u2018Schedule\u2019 specifying the border stretch where BSF would have powers of search, seizure and arrest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Need for such step<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>To improve operational efficiency and crack down on smuggling rackets\n<ul>\n<li>Punjab has the problem of drugs and arms smuggling. Similarly, Assam and West Bengal face the issue of cattle and fake currency smuggling.<\/li>\n<li>These borders are also prone to illegal migration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>To counter the security challenges\n<ul>\n<li>This expansion was in response to the increased use of drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.<\/li>\n<li>These technologies have long-range capabilities and enable surveillance and the smuggling of arms and fake currency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>To make jurisdiction of BSF uniform across states\n<ul>\n<li>The notification makes the BSF jurisdiction uniform across states, as the 50-kilometre limit was already in place in Rajasthan.<\/li>\n<li>The same notification reduced the jurisdiction in Gujarat from 80 km to 50 km.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>News Summary: The issue of expansion of BSF jurisdiction<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The state of Punjab filed an original suit against the central government in the Supreme Court in December 2021 against the expansion of the jurisdiction of the BSF.\n<ul>\n<li>The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in disputes between the central government and states under Article 131 of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<li>This means cases of this kind can only be heard for the first time at the SC to the exclusion of any other court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Punjab govt claimed that expanding the jurisdiction would compromise the state\u2019s exclusive powers to legislate on matters involving the police and public order.\n<ul>\n<li>These powers are provided in Entries 1 and 2 of the State List under Article 246 of the Constitution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>They also claimed that the notification was issued without consulting with any of the states concerned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is the original jurisdiction of Supreme Court?<\/h3>\n<p>The Supreme Court of India&#8217;s original jurisdiction is covered under Article 131. It includes disputes between: the Indian government and one or more states and the Indian government and one or more states on one side and one or more states on the other side.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is the Criminal Procedure Code?<\/h3>\n<p>The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is a procedural law that provides due process to the accused. It was enacted in 1973 and came into force on April 1, 1974.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/why-punjab-moved-sc-against-the-expansion-of-bsf-jurisdiction-9124717\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Why Punjab moved SC against the expansion of BSF jurisdiction<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/bsf.gov.in\/History?LangId=dHJ1ZQ==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>BSF<\/u><\/a><u> | <\/u><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/bsf-can-now-seize-arrest-deep-inside-assam-wb-punjab\/articleshow\/86979746.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Times of India<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BSF guards the International Border with Pakistan and Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39282","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}