Patna: A special meeting of the Bihar
Legislative Council was on Friday held in Patna College as part of
its centenary celebrations which was attended by the Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and four
other ministers among 116 present and past members of the
house.
The Legislative Council Chairman Tarakant Jha presided
over the meeting of the House in the seminal hall of the Patna
College in replication of the inaugural session of the upper
house held on January 20, 1913 which was attended by 40
members from Bihar and Odisha and presided over by the then
Lt. Governor Charles Stuart Bailey.
Jha clarified that it was only a meeting of the
present and past members of the legislative council as under
Article 170 of the constitution the convening of the special
session of the house was not possible without the the address
by the Governor.
The Chief Minister, Leader of Opposition Gulam Gaus,
the senior most MLC Ramashraya Prasad Singh (elected to the
upper house for the first time in 1962), and others spoke on
the occasion eulogizing the glorious history of the council
and its contributions in the legislative process of Bihar.
The meeting was devoid of political partisanship as
the leaders of all political hues spoke in unison and
stressed on the need to strengthen the institution.
Kumar also released the souvenir, called 'Dharohar'
and five other books, including a book dedicated to the
revolutionary leader Batukeshwar Dutt, on the occasion.
Earlier, all present and past members of the
legislative council arrived by a deluxe bus to attend the
council's special meeting at specially decked up seminar hall
of the Patna College.
The members later left for the state legislature for
lunch hosted by the legislative council chairman for them.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 20, 2012, 16:48