Balamurugan vs The Superintendent Of Police & Anr.

The petitioner has filed this writ petition to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus, challenging the rejection order dated 04.09.2026 passed by the Sub-Inspector of Police, Silaiman Police Station, Madurai District and quash the same as illegal and consequently seeking a direction to the respondents to permit the petitioner to conduct a Kabaddi sports competition at the village on 19.09.2026 from 06.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. and on 20.09.2026 from 09.00 a.m to 10.00 pm, including the use of public address system.

The petitioner submitted a representation before the second respondent seeking permission to conduct a Kabaddi tournament on 19.9.2026 from 06.00 p.m. onwards upto 20.09.2026 10.00 p.m. Since the second respondent, namely, the Inspector of Police, Silaiman Police Station, Madurai District, did not pass any order on the said representation, the Sub-Inspector of Police, Mr.A. Jayakumar, Siilaiman Police Station, Madurai District, passed the impugned order ultimately rejecting the request made by the petitioner.

This Court had a doubt as to whether the Sub-Inspector of Police had the authority to consider the representation of the petitioner and pass orders thereon. The second respondent Police Station is headed by an Inspector of Police. When this was put to the learned Government Advocate (Criminal Side), he submitted that he was not aware of the internal communication or processing of the Police Station. Therefore, he requested that the case may be passed over and that the concerned police officer be directed to be present before this Court so that the Court could ascertain the matter directly.

As per the submission of the learned Government Advocate (Criminal Side), Mr.A.Jayakumar, Sub-Inspector of Police, Silaiman Police Station, appeared before this Court during the afternoon session. When the matter was put to him, he submitted that he had acted upon the instructions of the higher officials at the level of the Deputy Superintendent of Police and also the Inspector of Police in charge of the Silaiman Police Station. He further stated that both of them had orally instructed him to pass an order rejecting the petitioner's request and to direct the petitioner to approach the higher authorities.

However, even in the said order, he did not mention that the aggrieved party could approach the higher authorities. He admitted that, since the Inspector of Police is the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Silaiman Police Station, such petitions, representations and complaints are ordinarily required to be decided by the SHO/Inspector of Police.

The Sub-Inspector of Police, having passed such an illegal order without jurisdiction, compelled the petitioner to challenge the same before this Court, thereby incurring expenses towards court fees, typing and other processing charges, in addition to the lawyer's fee.

Having found the impugned order to be illegal, this Court is inclined to set aside the same straightaway. As regards the costs to be imposed on the Sub-Inspector of Police, Mr.A. Jayakumar, he suggested that he is ready to pay any amount of costs that may be ordered by this Court, or alternatively sought to be excused on this occasion and assured the Court that he would be careful in future.

The said submissions are recorded. The concerned officer shall be careful in future while deciding any application, representation or complaint submitted by any individual, organisation or other party, and shall ensure that the decision is taken only by the competent authority having jurisdiction.

In view of the above, the impugned order passed by the Sub Inspector of Police, Silaiman Police Station, is set aside and the matter is remitted back to the second respondent for fresh consideration.

As per the submission of Mr.A. Jayakumar, Sub-Inspector of Police, the post of Inspector of Police in the Silaiman Police Station is presently vacant and one Mrs. Jayanthi, Inspector of Police, is presently in charge of the Station. Therefore, the Inspector of Police, Karuppayoorani Police Station, who is presently in charge of the Silaiman Police Station, is directed to consider the petitioner's request and pass appropriate orders tomorrow (i.e.18.09.2026) itself, subject to obtaining necessary NOCs from the concerned Village Administration, Medical Department, Fire and Rescue Services Department and other competent authorities with regard to safety measures.

The petitioner shall restrict the Kabaddi tournament to the day time hours and shall not conduct the event during night hours. If the petitioner is willing to proceed with the tournament, he shall submit a fresh representation mentioning the date and daytime schedule for conducting the event for two days, as the case may be.

If the petitioner seeks police protection, he shall pay the necessary charges as per the rates prescribed and prevailing at the relevant time.

2.

A copy of this order shall be marked to the Superintendent of Police, Madurai District, for issuing suitable instructions to all Inspector of Police. Whenever any representation, application or complaint is received, the Station House Officer/competent officer shall take a decision and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law.

Any deviation in future, particularly where an officer, who has no jurisdiction or authority passes an order, shall be viewed seriously and the officer concerned will be dealt with separately in accordance with law.

With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of.