Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court is empowered to issue Writs namely, Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Certiorari, Quo warranto, and Prohibition. In this article, we will describe the powers of the High Court to issue the Writ of Prohibition.
The Writ of prohibition is a Writ directing a subordinate authority to stop doing something that the law prohibits. In other words, a superior court can issue a writ of prohibition directing a subordinate Court to stop from proceeding further due to lack of jurisdiction or any other reason which makes such proceeding illegal. The Hon’ble Apex Court has propounded that the primordial object of this Writ is to restrain inferior courts or Tribunals from exceeding their jurisdictional limit.
There are certain cases when the writ of prohibition shall lie. These are as follows –
- When the authority refuses to exercise jurisdiction.
- When the authority acts without jurisdiction.
- When the authority exercise jurisdiction by taking into consideration irrelevant or extraneous matter.
- When the authority makes an error of law apparent on the face of record.
- When the authority exercises jurisdiction by erroneously deciding facts necessary to confer jurisdiction.