New York: A high-level panel appointed by UN secretary general Kofi Annan has recommended expanding the Security Council from 15 to 24 members, but has given various options regarding increasing the number of permanent seats, one of which is sought by India, diplomats were quoted as saying.

The panel report, to be released next week, does not recommend giving new permanent members veto power which currently five permanent members -- the US, Britain, Russia, France and China -- enjoy, 'The New York Times' said today (Nov 28, 2004) quoting the diplomats who have seen the report.

The recommendations are expected to generate an intense debate, as they are unlikely to satisfy the member states.

'The Times' said the report suggests expanding the Council, which currently has five permanent and ten non permanent members, to 24 with six members each from Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe under two alternate formulas.

At present, non-permanent members are elected for a two-year term and five of them retire each year.

One of the two suggested options, the paper said, would create a new tier of eight semi-permanent members with renewable four-year terms and one additional conventional two-year term member. The other suggests expanding the number of permanent members to 11 from 5 and the number of those elected to two-year terms by three.

Neither option, however, extends granting veto power beyond the existing five countries - a point that is sure to sharpen the debate in the General Assembly, which seems certain to continue into next summer.

Changes in the composition of the Security Council must be approved by two-thirds of the 191 United Nations members and ratified by the legislatures of two-thirds of those Governments, including those of all five Permanent Council members.

The Council was last expanded, to 15 from 11, in a 1963 General Assembly vote that took effect in 1965.

The debate, the paper said, is expected to be intense because of the importance of the issue to many countries that want to be included and possibly just as many that object to the inclusion of others.

Bill Rammell, a British Foreign Office minister who presented his country's ideas to the panel this summer, commented on the regional rivalries at work.

"For every country you can name," he said, "there are two or three next in line who feel their positions entitle them to frustrate the process."

India is among the main contenders for a permanent slot in the expanded Council. India along with Japan, Germany and Brazil have formed what is known as group of four and decided to support one another's case for a permanent seat and press their case among the member nations.

Without directly opposing India becoming a permanent member, Pakistan has been leading a group of nations, including Italy, which favour expansion only in non-permanent category.