The Centre has granted an enhanced seven-year tenure to central armed police forces and Assam Rifles personnel joining the counter-terrorist commando force NSG on deputation, considering the ‘Black Cat’ force’s special combat requirements.
The Union home ministry approved the decision after the National Security Guard (NSG) requested an extension of the deputation tenure for these personnel from the current five-year period (extendable by one year twice) to seven years to preserve “institutional memory” and the skill sets of its trained commandos.The NSG is the federal counter-terrorist force and its commandos are called ‘Black Cats’ because of the black-colour overalls they wear during combat.
The force undertakes special counter-terrorist operations and provides security cover to high-risk VIPs, in addition to conducting anti-hijack tasks.
The force draws its entire strength from deputations sent by the central armed police forces (47 per cent) and the Army (53 per cent).An official said that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an order on March 5 stating that personnel from central armed police forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles joining the NSG on deputation will be allowed a full seven-year stint “at the time of initial appointment,” keeping in mind the “specialised nature of the job” of the commando force.
Until now, such personnel had a five-year fixed deputation in the NSG, extendable twice by one year.
Officials felt that the five-plus-one-plus-one tenure resulted in lost time for administrative clearances and only a handful of commandos were able to get clearance from their parent forces because those forces also required their service.
They suggested that NSG should have a longer deputation period similar to that prevalent for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Officials said that, according to the latest MHA order, the approved 7 year deputation period in the NSG will not be extendable.
Each commando is trained in specialised tasks like house intervention, close-quarter combat, precision firing, sniping, drone and counter-drone surveillance, communications and unarmed fighting. A senior officer said that a five-year tenure was too short and that commandos should serve for seven years so their skills could be utilised for the NSG’s duties and tasks.
The 1984 raised NSG is establishing a new commando hub at Ayodhya in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. It plans to enhance its counter-terror drills to combat terrorists and resolve hostage situations aboard cruise liners, trains and in various urban locations.
The CAPFs comprise the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB along with Assam Rifles and they work under the control of the MHA.