BHUBANESWAR: Centre is yet to receive any resolution passed in the Odisha Assembly for setting up of a Legislative Council in the State, Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. In a written reply to an unstarred question by BJD Rajya Sabha Member Prasanna Acharya, Rijiju said that as per record, no such resolution has been received by the Centre. However, information is being collected from the Odisha government with regard to the adoption of a resolution, he added.
Acharya wanted to know whether the Odisha Legislative Assembly had adopted a unanimous resolution for the creation of a Legislative Council and whether the Central government would move to create such council under Article 169 of the Constitution. Rijiju said that Assam, Rajasthan and West Bengal have adopted the resolution for the creation of Legislative Councils. State legislative councils are in existence in six states Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh now, he added.
The Odisha Assembly had passed a resolution in September 2018 for setting up of a Legislative Council or Vidhan Parishad in the State. While 104 MLAs of the BJD present in the house had voted in favour of the resolution, opposition MLAs had staged walkouts. Justifying the need for setting up a legislative council, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said as development has picked up momentum, wider consultations are necessary to accelerate it further.