Patna High Court on Thursday directed the state government to file its reply on a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging Prashant Kishor's appointment as adviser to the chief minister and giving him the rank of a cabinet minister.

Nagrik Adhikar Manch, an NGO, filed the PIL saying Prashant was appointed surpassing set norms.

A division bench of Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Ravi Ranjan asked the state government to reply within a week. The matter will next be heard on October 27.

Prashant, who played a crucial role in Nitish's electoral campaign during the Assembly polls, was appointed adviser, policy and programme implementation, to the chief minister on January 21.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner on Thursday, counsel Dinu Kumar told the court: "The post was created on January 19 and incorporated in the Bihar Gazette on January 22. However, Prashant was appointed a day before on January 21."

 

He also questioned the government's intention in making Prashant the chief minister's adviser. He told court that neither did the state government fix any qualification for the post nor did it issue any advertisement. Even the selection process was kept under wraps, he said.

Prashant's elevation as cabinet-rank minister also come in for questioning during hearing of the case, as the petitioner's counsel argued that only a serving minister in the state cabinet was provided the status of a cabinet-rank minister and no outsider is entitled to such rank. After Dinu's contention, the chief justice directed the state government to file a counter affidavit in the case stating under which section the government derives the power to appoint an adviser to chief minister and provide him the rank of a cabinet minister. The court fixed the next date of hearing on October 27.