Inefficacy of Alternate Remedies in Cases of Inherent Lack of Jurisdiction

While constitutional courts normally direct litigants to exhaust available statutory appellate remedies under governing service regulations, this rule of exhaustion is a self-imposed restraint and does not apply where the impugned action suffers from a total and inherent lack of jurisdiction. When a disciplinary authority issues a charge-sheet and imposes monetary recoveries against a superannuated employee without any statutory authority or regulatory power, the proceedings are wholly void. Disposing of a writ petition by merely relegating the employee to an internal departmental appeal constitutes an error of law when the jurisdictional foundation of the inquiry itself is non-existent. Under such circumstances, the High Court ought to exercise its extraordinary writ jurisdiction under Article 226 to quash the unauthorized proceedings at their origin rather than remitting the matter to appellate forums. (Kadirkhan Ahmedkhan Pathan Vs The Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation & Ors. | 2026 INSC 16)