Wednesday, March 29 2006 15:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Assembly today (Mar 29, 2006) passed by a voice vote the Uttar Pradesh Development Council Bill 2006 seeking to grant the council the status of an autonomous body and local authority amid protest by the BJP.

Opposition BJP alleged that the aim of passing the bill was to protect the council chairman and Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh by making the post an office not of profit, while Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav stoutly defended the bill rejecting the allegation.

Although the Congress lent its support to the bill in the Assembly, its legislature party leader Pramod Tewari told sources outside the House that the exercise was aimed at protecting an individual.

BJP members demanded that the bill be referred to a select committee of the House.

They also questioned the achievements of the council demanding that the government should reveal the actual investment made in the state after its formation.

BJP members alleged that there was a different motive as the bill would be effective with retrospective effect.

Yadav in his reply on the debate, said that the bill was intended to remove the difficulties in the way of working of the council so that the state could make progress on the industrial front.

The bill seeks to grant the council the status of an autonomous body and local authority. The chairman and members of the council would have a term of five years and their posts would be honorary.