House passes Legislative Council motion
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 11 2011:
A private member resolution moved by veteran MLA O Joy and MLA RK Anand to lobby at Delhi and mobilise support for establishing a Manipur State Legislative Council under Article 169 of the Indian Constitution was passed by the State Assembly today.
Raising the private member resolution, O Joy stated that in a Parliamentary democracy, the Parliament or State Assembly is the platform for all citizens to articulate their aspirations.
However, the Manipur State Assembly with just 60 seats cannot give any room to many ethnic minorities of the State to raise their views, opinions or concerns, O Joy noted.
It would go a long way in addressing various issues and problems of the State if leaders of different ethnic communities are represented in the legislative body by setting up the State Legislative Council, the veteran MPP leader asserted.
RK Anand stated that establishment of Legislative Council would help in fulfilling political aspirations of different communities in addition to consolidating integrity of the
State.
Responding to the discussion, Law Minister Thoudam Debendra appreciated the motion saying that Manipur may have two Houses just as the Parliament has two Houses in the form of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Stating that the State Assembly have earlier adopted resolutions to set up Legislative Council three times, the Law Minister said that a new resolution was required to pursue the matter afresh.
Later, the private member resolution was passed by the House.