Supreme Court Issues Notice On Plea Challenging Appointment Of Chairperson Of Bihar Public Service Commission

The Supreme Court today(February 3) issued notice in a writ petition filed by Advocate and petitioner-in-person Brajesh Singh for declaring the appointment of Bihar Public Service Commission Chairperson, Parmar Ravi Manubhai, as "completely illegal" and "arbitrary" on grounds that the appointment has taken place defying the mandate of Article 316(Appointment and term of office of members) of the Constitution of India.

It has been stated in the writ petition that as per Article 316, only a person with "impeccable integrity" should be appointed as the Chairperson. Contrary to this, the Chairman is facing serious charges of corruption and forgery and as such his "integrity is doubtful", the petitioner argued.

Further, it has been stated that the Chairman prior to be appointed as the Chairman, was working as Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Mines & Geology, Government of Bihar and therefore, the present appointment is nothing but a "result of deadly nexus of bureaucracy" despite the fact that he has criminal antecedents. 

"It is submitted that Respondent No.2 is a named accused in Vigilance P.S. Case No.81/2017 registered under Sections 406, 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The aforesaid has not been taken into consideration while appointing Respondent No. 2 as Chairman of the Bihar Public Service Commission. It is further submitted that the State Government while making a recommendation to Governor for appointment of Respondent No. 2 as the chairman of Bihar Public Service Commission have disregarded and ignored the mandate of Article 316 of the Constitution of India which though not expressly but impliedly requires that only a person with impeccable integrity should be appointed as Chairman of a Public Commission. 

It is humbly submitted that appointment of Respondent No.2 as Chairman of Bihar Public Service Commission is also in contravention of principle of law laid down by this Hon'ble Court in "State of Punjab vs. Salil Sabhlok, (2013) 5 SCC 1" wherein this Hon'ble Court have held that even though Article 316 of the Constitution of India does not specify the qualification for holding the post of the Chairman of a Public Service Commission, the qualities of integrity and competence are implied relevant factors which are to be born in mind while making appointments," as averred in the writ petition.

Although a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra issued notice, Justice Narasimha warned the Advocate against filing such PILs. He said: "Our only problem is who filed this? What is your background? What is your role? Why are you filing this petition? As a lawyer, you should keep away from all this."

The Court also appointed AOR Vanshaja Shukla as the amicus curiae in this case. 

Case Details: BRAJESH SINGH v. THE STATE OF BIHAR AND ORS| W.P.(C) No. 62/2025

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