The BPR&D said the specialised agency would have “concurrent jurisdiction” with the state police in dealing with these offences. This was in line with the recommendations of the Soli Sorabjee Committee and the NHRC.

The BPRD agreed with the Malimath Committee that waging war against the nation, terrorism, hijacking, arms and drug trafficking, espionage and crimes targeting national infrastructure should be considered federal, but wanted some more offences to be added to the list like offences under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, arms or explosives running and organised crime.

According to BPR&D, “The rapidity ... of adoption of new technologies and innovative ... planning and execution of cross-border crimes by organised crime-terrorist nexus has outpaced the speed with which law enforcement agencies at the state level have been able to ‘modernise’ .”