‘One person, one post’ plea reaches High Court:Petition seeks one-term limit for constitutional posts, Centre issued notice seeking its response

A unique Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, seeking a law to prevent any individual from holding constitutional or political offices more than once. The petition calls for the implementation of the principle of “One Person, One Post, One Term” across the country. It seeks restrictions on multiple terms for positions including the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, Union Law Minister, Members of Parliament (MPs) and other constitutional and political offices. After a preliminary hearing, the High Court issued notices to the concerned parties, including the Central government, seeking their responses. The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 3. 70-year-old advocate files PIL The petition has been filed by Dr Shankarlal Wagwan, a 70-year-old advocate from Alirajpur, who is also representing himself before the court. According to the petitioner, every citizen in a democracy should have an equal opportunity to hold public office. He argued that when the same individual continues to occupy a constitutional or political position repeatedly, it limits opportunities for others and undermines the principle of equal participation in democratic governance. Seeks law restricting office to a single term The petition urges the court to direct the government to enact a law under which no individual can be appointed to any constitutional or political office more than once. It specifically seeks the application of this principle to top constitutional positions, including the Prime Minister, Union Home Minister, and Union Law Minister, along with Members of Parliament. These office-bearers have also been named as respondents in the petition. High Court issues notices The matter came up for hearing before a single-judge bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Monday. Following the preliminary hearing, the court issued notices to the respondents, directing them to file their replies before the next hearing scheduled for August 3.