In a significant legal ruling impacting administrative policing powers, the High Court of Karnataka has quashed an externment order issued against Chandrakant Shankar Vaddar, a 54-year-old resident and labourer from Nippani taluk in Belagavi district. Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum delivered the judgment while allowing a petition filed by Vaddar, who had challenged both the externment order passed against him by the Belagavi Superintendent of Police (SP) in April 2026 and a November 2025 Karnataka government notification that conferred externment powers on SPs across districts.
The High Court held that Sections 55 and 56 of the Karnataka Police (KP) Act, 1963, specifically empower only the Police Commissioner in commissionerate cities, and the District Magistrate or a specially empowered Sub-Divisional Magistrate in other areas, to issue externment orders. Justice Magadum observed that the office or cadre of a Superintendent of Police cannot be equated with that of a District Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The court ruled that an executive notification cannot alter or delegate statutory powers explicitly conferred by the legislature to a different authority. Consequently, the High Court declared the executive notification non-est and set aside the Belagavi SP's order against the Nippani petitioner. The decision provides substantial legal clarity for residents in Nippani taluk while re-establishing strict statutory limits on police administrative actions.
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