Differences between the home and defence ministries on the use of special forces of the Army and setting up of a unified command centre for anti-Maoist operations today came to the fore at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) which ended without any decision being taken.

No consensus could be reached on key proposals like deployment of Army in Maoist-affected areas, official sources said.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was attended by Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram and A K Antony.

Chidambaram is learnt to have placed his ministry's suggestions on widening the scope of anti-Maoist operations in the states affected by the menace.

The CCS is likely to meet again for shortly for another round of discussions on the matter, they said.

Among the proposals said to have been placed before the CCS include using the army's engineers in demining operations, assistance of special forces in planning and undertaking precision strikes among others.

However, the defence ministry's opinion is said to be in variance with the home ministry's.

The defence minister is understood to have made it clear that the armed forces should be used only as a last resort as the fight would involve citizens.

The army too has conveyed that it could be used in operations only after the Left-wing affected districts were declared as disturbed areas and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was brought into force in those areas.

The defence ministry is, however, is not averse to making available Army expertise in training the paramilitary forces and state police for anti-Maoist operations.

The home ministry, which has been under pressure after a spate of Maoist attacks this year, strongly pitched for a Unified Area Command with a Major General as advisor reporting to the Chief Minister concerned but the defence ministry voiced reservations on this proposal.

The Army feels that it cannot entrust such a task to a Maj Gen and that his reporting to the CM was also not appropriate.

The CCS meeting came at a time when various sections in the Congress party had voiced their opposition to engage Army in anti-Maoist operations.

During a recent interaction with the home Minister, a delegation of MPs from Maoist-affected areas had opposed the use of Army in such operations.

While the home ministry is keen on getting the help of special forces of the Army, the defence ministry has contended that this cannot be done in a hasty manner.

The army has trained 47,000 personnel from CRPF and state police since 2006 and has also loaned a Brigadier-rank officer as the pointsman to provide advice and direction to the anti-Maoists operations already in progress in the states.

The IAF, on its part, has sent four of its Mi-17 choppers to assist the paramilitary forces in logistics, apart from two BSF choppers deployed for the purpose.

It has also conveyed that it would be difficult for its to provide more choppers for such operations due to its own commitments.