The ordinance, which amends the 1988 SPG Act, would allow the security cover for Sonia Gandhi and her two children -- Rahul and Priyanka -- to be extended beyond the ten year period specified in the previous law for a former prime minister and his family members, a senior Home Ministry official said.

The ordinance, promulgated on Thursday night, said the period between two consecutive assessments of level of threats should not be more than 12 months.

The government would bring a bill in the coming winter session of Parliament to replace the ordinance, the official said. SPG provides security to the prime minister and his immediate family.

He declined to give any time frame for the continuance of SPGprotection for Sonia Gandhi and her family.

Another amendment made in the act is that if any former prime minister opts out of the SPG cover, his family members would automatically cease to be SPG protectees.

To bring objectivity to these amendments, the act now prescribes norms for determining threat perception and also, if required, SPG withdrawn from a former prime minister's family members could be redeployed by the government, he said.

The official said as a result of a recent review, non-SPG security provided to about 30 officials has been downgraded. The Home Ministry is also considering changing the ground rules for extending security cover to politicians and officials, he said.

The ordinance said SPG cover would now be extended to any former premier and members of his immediate family for a period beyond 10 years from the date he ceased to hold office.