SC Issues Notice On Plea Challenging NIA Amendment Act

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the central government in response to a writ petition which had challenged the constitutional validity of the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Act 2019.

It was submitted that the Amendment had affected the principles of co-operative federalism, and violated Article 14 of the Constitution due to manifest arbitrariness and inherent vagueness in its provisions.

The petition contended that the introduction of additional offences in the schedule of NIA Act, such as human trafficking, counterfeiting of currency notes etc are “wholly unrelated to the fundamental object of the Act, ie to counter terrorism”.

“In doing so, NIA 2019 has further encroached upon the federal characteristic of the country, by usurping the power of the states to enact laws pertaining to public order and police as provided for under Entries 1 and 2 of List II of the Constitution of India,” the plea contended.

The plea argued that the amendment undermined the principle of “prosecutorial supremacy in registration and investigation of offences”.

The plea stated that Section 6(8) added in the Act by the amendment confers power on the central government to direct the NIA to register and investigate an offence, where in its opinion a scheduled offence has taken place outside India to which the Act applies.

The petition also stated that Section 1(2)(d) introduced by the Amendment, which provides for investigation and prosecution of scheduled offences outside India against Indian citizens or those affecting the interest of India, employs a vague phraseology of “affecting the interest of India”.