The Supreme Court has halted proceedings in high courts concerning challenges to the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights (Amendment) Act, 2026. The court issued notices regarding a separate plea about a minister's reappointment.
The Supreme Court's stay on challenges to the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights (Amendment) Act, 2026, pauses legal scrutiny of the law. Separately, the challenge to Deepak Prakash's ministerial reappointment raises constitutional questions about appointment rules for non-legislators.
The Supreme Court of India has issued a stay on proceedings in various high courts that were hearing challenges against the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights (Amendment) Act, 2026. This move halts further legal examination of the petitions challenging the act at the lower court level.
In a separate development, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Bihar government, panchayati raj minister Deepak Prakash, and the Election Commission of India. The notices are in response to a plea filed by activist Rakesh Kumar Singh, questioning Prakash's reappointment to his ministerial post. Prakash, a leader of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, was first appointed in November without being an elected member of the Bihar assembly or legislative council.
The plea argues that Prakash's reappointment on May 7, after a brief interregnum following a change in government, violates Article 164(4) of the Constitution. This article stipulates that a non-legislator appointed as a minister must secure membership of the state legislature within six consecutive months. The petition contends that the government is attempting to circumvent this constitutional limit by breaking up the minister's tenure and reappointing him, which it describes as a "colorable exercise of constitutional power."