New Delhi: A bill to repeal POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) is likely to be taken up for discussion in the Union Cabinet as the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government intends to bring it forward during the current session of Parliament resuming next week.

The meeting, to be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will deliberate upon the draft proposals for repealing the tough anti-terror law, official sources said in New Delhi.

They said the Cabinet was also likely to deliberate upon strengthening of the existing laws to check terrorism.

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had chaired a meeting last month during which the draft proposal for repealing the anti-terror law was finalised.

The sources said the Congress-led UPA Government was firm in its commitment to repealing POTA but did not want anti-national groups or elements to take advantage of it.

The proposed draft deals with various laws that needed to be incorporated in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) so that a tight grip was maintained on militants and their sources of funding.

Even if the bill for repealing POTA is not taken up for consideration before the budget session adjourns, the Act will be allowed to lapse in October.

If POTA was repealed or allowed to lapse, the security agencies would find it difficult to arrest those who engage in financing anti-national activities in the country, the sources said.

The Cabinet would also discuss the Money Laundering Bill (MLB) on anti-national funding, about which a reference is there in POTA, for booking such persons, the sources said.