The Center has granted extended tenure of seven years to the Central Armed Police Force and Assam Rifles personnel who have joined the NSG Anti-Terrorism Command on deputation, keeping in mind the special combat requirements of the ‘Black Cat’ force.
The Union Home Ministry approved the decision after the National Security Guard (NSG) requested to extend the tenure of deputations for these personnel from the current five-year period (renewable twice by one year) to seven years to preserve the “institutional memory” and skills of its trained commandos.
The NSG is a federal counter-terrorism force and its commandos are called the “Black Cats” because of the black overalls they wear during combat.
The force conducts special counter-terrorism operations and provides security cover to high-risk VIPs, in addition to carrying out anti-kidnapping tasks.
The force draws all its strength from deputations sent by the Central Armed Police Force (47%) and the Army (53%).
An official told PTI that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order on March 5 stating that personnel from the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and Assam Rifles who will join the NSG on deputation will be allowed a full seven-year tenure “at the time of initial appointment”, keeping in mind the “specialized nature of the work” of the commandos.
Hitherto, such personnel in the NSG had a permanent deputation of five years, which could be extended twice by one year.
Officials felt that the five-plus-one-plus-one tenure resulted in wasted time on administrative clearances, and only a handful of commandos were able to obtain clearance from their parent forces, as those forces also required their service.
They suggested that the NSG should have a longer deputation period similar to that prevailing in the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Officials said that as per the latest MHA order, the approved seven-year deputation period in the NSG will not be extended.
Each commando is trained in specialized tasks such as home strike, close combat, precision shooting, sniping, drone and anti-drone tracking, communications and unarmed combat. A senior officer said that the five-year tenure was too short and that the commando should serve for seven years so that their skills could be utilized for carrying out the duties and tasks of the NSG.
NSG promoted in 1984 establishes a new commando at Ayodhya in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. It plans to improve its counterterrorism drills to combat terrorists and deal with hostage situations aboard cruise ships, on trains and in various urban locations.
CAPF comprises CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB along with Assam Rifles and works under the control of MHA.
Published – March 6, 2026 5:37 PM IST
