(1) THE prayer in the writ petition is as follows :

". . . To issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction directing respondents 1 and 2 to provide adequate police protection to the petitioner. (a) to remove the articles set out in the Schedules A and B mentioned in the writ petition from its engineering unit at Tiruvottiyur, Madras 600019; and (b) to provide adequate security to the other employees and customers of the petitioner for their ingress and egress to the engineering unit at Tiruvottiyur; and (c) to give protection to the vehicles entering and coming out of the engineering unit of the petitioner at Tiruvottiyur. . . "

(2) THE petitioner-company has got four units; viz. :

(1) a sugar factory at Vijayawada, which crushes about 6,000 tonnes of cane per day to manufacture sugar; (2) a cement factory at Macherla, Andhra Pradesh; (3) an engineering unit called the Central Workshop situated at Tiruvottiyur; and (4) a sugar manufacturing unit at Lakshmipuram, Andhra pradesh.

(3) THE total number of workers employed by the petitioner is roughly 4,000 and the paid up capital of the petitioner is Rs. 11 crores and the shares are being held