PATNA, Feb. 28 -- The health committee of the Bihar Legislative Council will examine the prolonged delay in issuance of no-objection certificates (NOCs) for 140 proposed pharmacy colleges, pending with the state health department for over three years, committee chairperson Awadhesh Narain Singh said on Friday. The decision followed strong objections from more than a dozen members, who expressed dissatisfaction with the reply of minister-in-charge Lakhendra Kumar Roshan to a call attention motion moved by BJP MLC Anil Kumar. Raising the issue, Kumar demanded action against the health department official allegedly responsible for keeping the NOCs pending for the past three years. He said the delay had compelled many students to pursue pharmacy education outside Bihar. JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar said timely approval of the institutes could have enabled around 22,000 students to study within the state. He added that eligible students might also have benefited from financial assistance under the student credit card scheme. Kumar sought to know the identity of the official responsible for the delay and questioned why disciplinary action should not be initiated. Replying to a separate query by JD(U) MLC Dr Sanjeev Kumar Singh, state education minister Sunil Kumar said modifications would be made to the "e-Shiksha Kosh" (education portal) to ensure that Sundays and other scheduled holidays falling between periods of casual leave are not counted as leave days....