The only question that arises for determination in this criminal miscellaneous case filed by the accused persons in C.C. No. 620/80 on the file of the Judicial Magistrate of I Class, Perumbavoor, a private complaint, filed by the first respondent herein, is whether the said complaint is competent and the proceedings therein are liable to be quashed, for want of previous sanction of the appropriate authority under Section 197 of Criminal P.C. 1973, hereinafter called the Code, and under Section 397 of the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1960 (Act 14 of 1961), hereinafter referred to as the Act.

2. The first respondent filed a complaint before the Judicial Magistrate of I Class, Perumbavoor, against the petitioners herein who are respectively accused 1 to 4 in the complaint, alleging that they committed offences punishable under Sections "447, 427 and 109" I.P.C. The material allegations in the complaint can be stated as under:

3. The father of the first respondent (the complainant) had given permission to the Irrigation Department for constructing an irrigation canal from north to south along the middle of the property now belonging to the complainant and comprised in Sy. No.