Odisha to become the 7th state in the country to have a Legislative Council

Bhubaneswar: Odisha will soon become the 7^th state in the country to have a legislative council. The state cabinet today approved the proposal after accepting the report of the Special Committee constituted for the purpose.

Currently only 6 states Maharastra, Bihar, Uttarpradesh, Telengana, Andhrapradesh and Karnataka have Legislative Councils.

After the Cabinet approval, a proposal will be mooted in the State Legislative Assembly in form of a Resolution to be passed during the Monsoon Session of the Odisha House. Once Resolution is passed, it will be sent to the Parliament of India for approval under Article 169 of the Constitution of India. After the acceptance of the Parliament, President of India will put his seal of approval for the proposed Legislative Counil, officials say.

Earlier, a Special Six-Member Committee headed by Nrusingha Sahu, Minister Commerce & Transport had presented its Report to the Chief Minister on 3 August.  After going through the Report, Chief Minister had sent it to the State Cabinet for consideration. The Committee had visited four States to study the operations and functioning of the Legislative Councils there. The Committee studied the procedures for formation of Legislative Councils in Bihar, Telengana Karnataka and Maharashtra and talked to the officials on the aspects of functioning of the Councils.