Patna: The century-old Patna Museum will be brought under the umbrella of Bihar Museum Society, which runs the newly inaugurated Rs 518-crore Bihar Museum.

The move comes after chief minister Nitish Kumar inspected Patna Museum for more than three hours in October this year and held discussions with a team of senior officials, including chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh.

"It was further decided that both the Bihar Museum and the Patna Museum should be under the same administration and should be managed professionally," says an internal note circulated by the art, culture and youth department. "Therefore, Patna Museum can also come under the umbrella of the society and can be staffed in a manner similar to the staffing of Bihar Museum."

Art, culture and youth department principal secretary Chaitanya Prasad said on Tuesday that a final decision on bringing Patna Museum under the umbrella of the society that runs Bihar Museum is yet to be taken.

"The final decision is awaited. Such a decision is taken at the cabinet level and not at the level of our department," Chaitanya said.

However, the move is likely to ruffle the feathers of historians and archaeologists because Patna Museum is in its centenary year and is fully government-run museum. It functions as per government rules and its expenditure is as per the provisions made under the state budget.

Bihar Museum is governed by the Bihar Museum Society, constituted under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. It has its own set of rules and regulations, and the state government provides funds to it. It can generate its own funds and also arrange money from other agencies and has autonomy in functioning.

As per the rules of the society, a board of governors headed by the state development commissioner and having principal secretaries of various departments governs the Bihar Museum.

Asked how a government museum can be shifted under the Bihar Museum Society, a senior official of the art, culture and youth department said: "The government could do anything in this regard." Plans are also afoot to hire the services of a consortium of consultants for various works related to expansion and development of the Patna Museum. They would act as concept consultants, master consultants and archaeology consultants for various works.

"We will prepare and invite an RFP (Request for Proposal) after the Prakash Utsav celebrations," Chaitanya said.