In a surprise move, the Defence Forces have been barred from procuring jammers under new guidelines unveiled by the government on Thurday. As per the guildelines, only states' police and jail authorities and central security agencies like IB and RAW to are allowed to buy the equipment.
The decision to keep Defence forces out of the list of authorised agencies is significant as questions were raised on the now-defunct Army's Technical Support Division (TSD).
The TSD was set up during the tenure of controversial former Army chief (now MoS External Affairs) General VK Singh, who was accused of carrying out unauthorised operations.
The jammers imported by the Technical Support Division for evaluation purpose could not be accounted for after the government decided to close the division.