Karnataka HC strikes down notification empowering SPs to issue externment orders under Police Act

A view of the High Court of Karnataka. The High Court of Karnataka has struck down a notification issued by the State government in November last year empowering Superintendents of Police (SPs) in districts to pass externment orders under the Karnataka Police (KP) Act, 1963. Referring to Section 55 of the Act, the court said the law empowers only the Police Commissioner in Bengaluru and other commissionerate cities, the District Magistrate in other areas, and a Sub-Divisional Magistrate, if specially empowered, to pass externment orders.Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the order while striking down the State government’s November 18, 2025, notification empowering Superintendents of Police to pass externment orders under the Act.“The Superintendent of Police does not fall within either of the categories expressly contemplated by Section 55 of the KP Act. The office or cadre of Superintendent of Police cannot be equated with that of a District Magistrate or a Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The statutory authority identified by the legislature cannot be substituted by another authority merely through an executive act of delegation,” the court observed.The court also set aside the April 2026 order of Belagavi SP, who had passed an order of externment of one Chandrakant Shankar Vaddar, a 54-year-old labourer from Nippani in Belagavi district, by exercising the power under the government’s November 18, 2025 notification.“The executive instructions may supplement statutory rules where there is a gap, but they cannot override, amend, or run contrary to the express provisions of the parent statute,” the court said. It further clarified that when a statute specifies the authority, mode, and manner of exercising a power, the executive cannot, through an administrative instruction, circular, or notification, confer that power on an authority not contemplated by the statute. Published - September 04, 2026 06:57 pm IST