Mumbai, Oct 24: In keeping with the Centre's decision to guard against misuse of Pota, the Democratic Front government in Maharashtra has decided to appoint former judge of the Mumbai High Court K K Baam as the head of the review committee to examine cases of persons arrested under the anti-terrorist law, official sources said here today.
Baam's name has been proposed for heading the committee as per the guidelines of the central government, the sources told a news agency.

A government notification on appointment of Baam would be issued shortly, they said.

Baam would periodically review all the cases under Pota and recommend whether Pota charges should be dropped or otherwise, the sources said. In Maharashtra, Pota has been registered against 135 people of whom 86 are in custody while the others absconding.

Under Pota, grant of bail to an accused is a remote possibility as there is a provision in the act to ban liberty of a person. Even after filing of chargesheet, bail is not easily given by the court, legal sources said.

Under increasing pressure from its allies, the NDA government had recently cleared an ordinance to amend the stringent Pota to make the decisions of the review committee binding on the state governments. Bureau Report