Chennai: Firmly indicating that the ordinance giving more teeth to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) review committee was here to stay, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on October 28 said decisions taken by the review committee would be binding on both the Centre and states.

"It (ordinance) says the review committee decisions will be binding on the state executive as also the Central executive," he told reporters in Chennai on his return to the capital after attending the funeral of K L Malkani, Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry, who passed away on October 27.

Declining to react to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's charge that the ordinance would undermine the independence of the judiciary and states, Advani said, "I do not want to comment on it. It is a decision taken by the Union Cabinet."

On October 27 night, President A P J Abdul Kalam had promulgated the ordinance, giving statutory powers to the POTA review committee for redress of complaints by individuals booked under the anti- terrorist law.

PTI