SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 24 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 10 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which writ is issued by a high court or supreme court when a lower court has considered a case going beyond its jurisdiction?

(a)Certiorari
(b)Quo Warrant
(c)Habeas Corpus
(d)Prohibition

Answer

Why

Correct — D. Prohibition is the writ a High Court or the Supreme Court issues to a lower court or tribunal that has taken up a matter outside its jurisdiction, which is the writ option (d) names.

Its effect is to stop the proceedings — the higher court forbids the lower one from going any further with the case.

It runs only against judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, never against an administrative authority, a private person or a legislature. The label to carry: prohibition stays proceedings, certiorari quashes what has already been decided.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Certiorari — Certiorari is issued after the lower court or tribunal has passed its order, to quash that order or transfer the case upward. Prohibition is the one that acts while proceedings are still running.
(b)
Quo Warrant — The paper prints it as Quo Warrant; the writ is quo warranto, and it challenges a person's legal right to hold a public office. It has nothing to do with a court's jurisdiction.
(c)
Habeas Corpus — Habeas corpus means produce the body. It tests the legality of a detention and can be issued against a private person as well as the state, so it is about liberty, not jurisdiction.

Concept

Five writs are available under Articles 32 and 226: habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto. Sort them by what each one does.

Habeas corpus frees a person unlawfully detained. Mandamus commands a public authority to perform its legal duty. Quo warranto questions a claim to public office.

The remaining two are the court-to-court writs. Prohibition is preventive and stops proceedings in time; certiorari is curative and undoes an order already made.

The stem says the lower court has considered a case beyond its jurisdiction. In strict doctrine prohibition lies while a case is pending and certiorari after the order — but excess of jurisdiction is the standard cue for prohibition, and that is the writ the key marks.

Key facts

Prohibition is issued by a higher court to a lower court or tribunal to stop it exceeding its jurisdiction.
Certiorari is issued after an order has been passed, to quash it or move the case up.
Prohibition and certiorari lie only against judicial and quasi-judicial bodies.
The Supreme Court issues writs under Article 32 and the High Courts under Article 226.

Study next

The five writs and the kind of body each can be issued againstArticle 32 compared with Article 226, where the High Court's writ power is widerQuo warranto and the conditions under which a public office can be challenged

Common traps

Choosing certiorari, which also concerns a lower court but acts after the order is passed.
Assuming prohibition can be issued against an administrative or legislative body, which it cannot.

SSC sets the writs either as a definition like this one or as an Article question — Article 226 as the High Court's counterpart to Article 32 is asked at 9 Sep 2024, 09:00, GA Q.6.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.