The Odisha government on Monday appointed nine ruling party MLAs as the chairpersons of the district planning committees, enabling them to enjoy the status of minister of state (MoS).
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved the names of the MLAs to head the district planning committees.
"The chairpersons of the committees will be accorded the status of Minister of State (MoS)," said a statement from the chief minister's office.
The decision has been taken a few days after the amendment to the Odisha Offices of Profit (removal of disqualification) Act, 1961.
The nine legislators are Balabhadra Majhi (who will chair Kalahandi committee), Susanta Singh (Bargarh), Nursingha Charan Sahu (Dhenkanal), Prasant Kumar Mudili (Jagatsinghpur), Ramesh Chandra Choupatnaik (Ganjam), Hrushikesh Naik (Keonjhar), Manohar Randhari (Nabarangpur), Sashi Bhusan Behera (Khurda) and Mahesh Sahu (Angul).
The state cabinet on January 16 had approved a proposal to amend the Odisha Offices of Profit (removal of disqualification) Act, 1961 paving the way for MLAs to head the committees.
At present, they are being headed by ministers only.
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