Writ jurisdiction under article 226 cannot bypass pending magisterial proceedings or grant unprayed declaratory reliefs

High Courts exercising prerogative writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution cannot bypass ongoing magisterial proceedings under Section 175 BNSS or issue declaratory rulings on whether public servants acted outside official duties in the absence of a direct judicial challenge to the Magistrate's interlocutory orders. A writ court must not transform itself into a magisterial fact-finding forum or grant unprayed reliefs that effectively order a Magistrate to recall existing judicial orders. Litigants pursuing statutory remedies before a Judicial Magistrate cannot simultaneously invoke parallel writ proceedings to short-circuit statutory inquiries or circumvent magisterial jurisdiction. (XXX v. State of Kerala & Ors. | 2026 INSC 88)