The home ministry has moved a proposal for inter-ministerial consultations to bring aviation security regulator BCAS under its purview. Currently, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is under the civil aviation ministry. "Ministry of Home Affairs has circulated a proposal for transfer of BCAS for inter-ministerial consultation," Ministry of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. He was replying to a query on whether the government proposes to transfer BCAS from civil aviation ministry to the home ministry. The agency's main responsibilities include laying down standards and measures with respect to security of civil flights at airports in the country. In December last year, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir had told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the ministry has proposed transfer of BCAS to it for "better coordination of all the security agencies engaged in civil aviation security". Initially, the BCAS was set up as a cell in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) back in January 1978, following the hijack of an Indian Airlines flight in September, 1976, as per the agency's website. The BCAS was re-organised into an independent department in April 1987 under the civil aviation ministry after the Kanishka tragedy in June 1985, the website said. As many as 329 people were killed when a bomb exploded on Air India's Kanishka flight.
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