JOIN USThe Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) has asked the Karnataka government to merge the BDA task force and the Revenue department task force with BMTF to form a unified command.
Addressing reporters, Additional Director General of Police of BMTF Dr R P Sharma said the merger should happen so that these three organisations could work in a focused manner.
“The merger of the three task forces will not have any financial liability on the State government. It should be done so that the cases related to violations and encroachment of government properties can be investigated properly,” said Sharma.
He said he had written a letter to the government in this regard on March 3, 2012.|
Sharma said the BMTF recently took up the report of the A T Ramaswamy Committee and the report on land grabbing submitted by V Balasubramanian, the chairperson of the Karnataka Government Land Protection Task Force, for investigation.
Regarding the recent order curtailing the powers of BMTF, Sharma said a notification could not be superseded by an order and the BMTF continued to have sufficient powers to protect government properties.
“I go by statutory notification. It is mandatory and binding on the BMTF. The powers of the BMTF have been redefined (through the government order), but this does not curtail the scope of power as laid down under the Code of Criminal Procedures (CrPC). We shall use Section 156 (2) of the CrPC as a shelter to probe cases. We will invoke the provision wherever it is required,” Sharma said.
Refuting the allegations that BMTF had transgressed its powers, Sharma said the task force functioned within the framework of law.