( 1 ) THIS matter has come before this Court on reference by a division Bench of this Court. The reference of the Division Bench is a result of reference by a Single Judge. The question which needs to be answered is whether the High Court is empowered under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short "cr. P. C") to quash the First Information Report (FIR ).

( 2 ) THERE are four judgments of this court. The first one and the earliest in point of time is Hasan All Khan v. State of A. P. , 1992 (1) ALT 146. The second one is s. Sarat Babu Chowdary v. Inspector of police, 1992 (3) ALT 454 (DB ). The third one is Pearl Beverages Limited v. State of a. P. , 2000 (2) ALD (Crl.) 32 (AP) and the last judgment is Gudavalli Murali Krishna and others v. Gudavalli Madhavi, 2001 (1) ald (Crl.) 689 (AP ). In Hasan All s case (supra) this Court held that powers under section 482 Cr. P. C can be exercised by high Court only after initiation of criminal proceedings after a charge-sheet is filed and not at the stage of investigation. In Sarat babu s case (supra) the Division Bench held that High Court does not possess any power to quash FIR under Section 482 Cr. P. C. In