PRAYAGRAJ, Oct. 31 -- The Allahabad high court has held that district magistrates cannot act like 'plenipotentiary'. A division bench comprising of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Vivek Saran said that DMs must not exercise powers as if they were plenipotentiaries in their districts.

With this observation, the high court suspended an order passed by the then district magistrate, Bijnor, concerning the management of the traditional annual 'Jaahar Divan (Goga Naumi)' fair, observing that the order was prima facie without jurisdiction and amounted to an apparent usurpation of jurisdiction.

The high court in its October 27 order admitted the writ petition and granted two weeks to the state respondents to file their counter affidavit. The notic...