The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice on the petition challenging the re-appointment of Bihar Panchayati Raj Minister Deepak Prakash to the post of minister. Chief Justice CJI Surya Kant and Justice B. Mohana’s vacation bench issued this notice. Also asked whether Deepak Prakash still holds the post of minister?
The country’s largest court, while hearing a writ petition, issued notice to the Bihar government as well as the Election Commission and Deepak Prakash. Through this petition, a challenge has been raised to make Deepak the Panchayati Raj Minister of the state without electing him as an MLA.
This is against the provisions of the Constitution: Petition
During the hearing, the court asked whether Deepak Prakash is currently holding the post of minister, on which it was told by the petitioner that he is currently holding the post of minister. The petition filed in the court claimed that Deepak is currently neither a member of the State Assembly nor a member of the Legislative Council, hence he cannot be made a minister, as it is against the provisions of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court will investigate the challenge against the re-appointment of Deepak as the Panchayati Raj Minister of Bihar. To know the answer on this issue, notices have been issued by the court to Deepak Prakash, Bihar Government and Election Commission.
6 months time completed in May itself
Petitioner Rakesh Kumar Singh says that since Deepak is not a member of either the Assembly or the Legislative Council, he cannot handle the responsibility of any department of the state government. The petition states that according to Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, if someone is not an MLA, he can remain a minister only for 6 continuous months, and during this time he has to obtain membership of the state legislature. The special thing is that this exemption can be availed only once, it cannot be used again in case of change of government.
Rakesh claimed in his petition that youth leader Deepak was made a minister by the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in his new government on November 20, 2025, when he was not a member of the Assembly. But Nitish resigned on 15 April 2026 and this government collapsed.
Then after 22 days, on May 7, a new government was formed under the leadership of Samrat Chaudhary and Deepak Prakash was again made the minister. In this way, the period for becoming a minister on 20th November last year had ended on 20th May 2026.
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