Bihar Minister Deepak Prakash has been nominated as a Member of the Legislative Council, and hence there was no bar on his continuation as a Minister, the Satte Government told the Supreme Court on Friday.

The Court was hearing a writ petition seeking to remove Prakash, an unelected member, from the Minister post on the ground that he has not become a member of the legislature within six months of his appointment as the Minister.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State, informed the Court that the disqualification has been cured with Prakash's nomination as an MLC. Asking the State to produce the notification, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana adjourned the writ petition filed by social activist Rakesh Kumar Singh.

As per the plea, Prakash was inducted as Panchayat Raj Minister on November 20, 2025, by the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, though he was not a member of the legislative assembly. On April 15, 2026, Nitish Kumar stepped down, which led to the dissolution of the Council of Ministers. On May 7, 2026, after a gap of 22 days, Prakash was re-inducted into the new government headed by Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary.

The 6 month term to get re-elected, from the first appointment on November 20, 2025, expired on May 20, 2026.

The petition argued that the reappointment is a colourable exercise of constitutional power designed to indirectly extend the six-month constitutional grace period available to non-legislators.

Placing reliance on S.R. Chaudhari v State of Punjab(2001), the petitioner says: "The petitioner contends that the six-month exception under Article 164(4) is non-renewable and non-revivable during the tenure of the same Legislative Assembly and cannot be reset through resignation, cabinet reshuffles, change of Chief Minister, dissolution of a ministry, or reappointment."

The petitioner further argues that allowing repeated appointments of unelected individuals to ministerial office would undermine the principles of parliamentary democracy, representative government, collective responsibility and electoral accountability.

Seeking issuance of a writ of quo warranto, the petition asks the Court to call upon Prakash to disclose the constitutional authority under which he continues to hold ministerial office and to declare his reappointment unconstitutional and void.

Case Details: Rakesh Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar & Ors., Writ Petition (Civil) No. 746 of 2026.

Drawn By Sudeep Chandra, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, filed By: Ms. Sanya Kaushal, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India