SC questions Bihar over continuation of minister without being elected legislator

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Bihar government over the continuation of minister Deepak Prakash without being an elected member of the assembly and sought a response by Tuesday.The Supreme Court posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday. (HT PHOTO)“How is the state retaining a minister if he is not elected?” asked Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant after the court was told that the state is yet to file a response to a petition challenging Prakash’s reappointment.Advocate Sudeep Chandra, who appeared for petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh, sought an urgent listing of the matter as Prakash continued in office. He said that notice was issued on Singh’s public interest litigation on June 15 and the state is yet to respond.The CJI accepted the mentioning request and posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday. “We are keeping this on Tuesday. It is a pure question of law. We will not grant you time on the next occasion for filing an affidavit.”Singh challenged Prakash’s reappointment on May 7, claiming it to be contrary to the Constitution’s Article 164(4), which permits a non-legislator to serve as a minister for a maximum of six months.Prakash was inducted into the then-chief minister Nitish Kumar’s government in November 2025 without being elected as a legislator. Prakash held no constitutional, ministerial, executive, statutory, or public office from April 15 to May 6, as the new government under chief minister Samrat Choudhary took office.On May 7, Prakash was reappointed as a minister without being a member of the state legislature. He had already served four months and 26 days out of the constitutionally permissible six-month period under Article 164(4).Singh argued that a residual balance period of approximately a month and four days remained available before the expiry of the original six-month constitutional limitation calculated from Prakash’s appointment on November 20.