Legislative council not needed in Uttarakhand: Speaker

Hardwar, Apr 22 (UNI) Uttarakhand state assembly speaker Harbans Kapoor said the legislative council was not needed in the state, as there was no constitutional provision for it.

Mr Kapoor addressing mediapersons here last evening.

Replying to a question if there was a need of constituting legislative council in the state as promised by the Congress in its election manifesto, Mr Kapoor said, ''the legislative council was neither needed in the state nor was there any constitutional provision of the same in such a small state as Uttarakhand''.

''A refresher course for the MLAs who had been elected for the first time is scheduled to be held at Dehradun on May 19 and 20,'' Mr Kapoor said, adding, ''the eminent parliamentarians from all the political parties had been invited to brief these MLAs about the parliamentary procedures''.

Mr Kapoor regretted the dwindling sessions of the assembly during the last few years and blamed both the ruling party and the opposition for the sorry state of affairs.

He said steps would be initiated to ensure the sessions are held for sufficient number of days so that matters of public interests could be properly discussed in the house.

UNI