Court case(2014) 9 SCC 1

A public interest petition under Article 32 sought a direction that persons against whom charges had been framed for serious or heinous offences, or offences involving moral turpitude, should not be appointed as Ministers in the Union or State governments. Articles 75(1) and 164(1) say only that Ministers are appointed by the President or Governor on the advice of the Prime Minister or Chief Minister, and the Representation of the People Act 1951 disqualifies a legislator only on conviction.

The Constitution Bench, through Dipak Misra J, held that the Court cannot read into Articles 75(1) and 164(1) a disqualification that the framers and Parliament had not enacted; to do so would be to rewrite the Constitution. The Bench nevertheless held that the Prime Minister holds a position of "constitutional trust", and that the principles of constitutional morality, good governance and constitutional trust require him not to recommend persons facing serious criminal charges for ministerial office; the Court "expected" him to act on these principles but left the decision to him. Lokur J and Kurian Joseph J, concurring, emphasised that the Prime Minister must live up to the trust reposed in him. The petition was disposed of accordingly.