COMMON ORDER:

Writ Petition No.13251 of 2011 came to be filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking the following relief:-

―…. to issue a Writ, Order or Direction, more particularly one in the nature of a "Writ of Mandamus (a) To declare the G.O.Rt.No. 858 dated 09.11.2010 as illegal, arbitrary, unconstitutional and forthwith quash the same issuing consequential directions to the respondents not to initiate any further action in pursuance of the G.O.Rt. No. 858 dated

09.11.2010 against the petitioner (b) To issue for a consequential direction to the respondents not to interfere with the legitimate business activity of the petitioner in the area of publication of books in pursuance of the impugned G.O. Rt. No. 858 dt. 9.11.2010 Or otherwise and pass such other order or orders…..‖

Criminal Petition No.4032 of 2011 came to be filed under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. to call for the records in Crime No.49 of 2011 on the file of S.H.O., Tenali I Town Police Station, Tenali, Guntur, registered for the offence punishable under Section 63 and 64 of the Copyright Act, 1957.

As the issue involved in these petitions is interlinked, I am of the view that it is appropriate to decide both the petitions by common order taking Writ Petition No.13251 of

2011 as leading petition.

The petitioner is Proprietor of M/s Deepthi Publications, which is a registered firm and carrying on its business at 22-7-38, MotupalliVari Street, Kothapet, Tenali, Guntur District with Form D1 Certificate of Registration granted vide No. GNT/04/2 1586 dated 06.10.1993 which is valid from 26.09.1993, and a licence to work as a Factory with Licence No. 14366 dated 23.07.2001 which was renewed in 2007. The firm of the petitioner is a publishing house established and operating from 1903, publishing and distributing books of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Botany and Zoology catering to the needs of students studying Intermediate, 11 and 12th Class of CBSE and ICSE Boards, and students pursuing their interest to appear for EAMCET, IIT-JEE and AIEEE, and other various Engineering stream entrance examinations and qualifying tests.

It is further stated that the petitioner publishes Mathematics Workbooks and guide-books with EAMCET orientation and with the model and style of the entrance examinations with over 75 titles. The books contain exercises in a systematic manner to help the students work out the problems. completely within the time available, and at the end of every chapter, certain objective type questions are given to benefit the students preparing for the competitive examinations. The syllabi of the books are based on the syllabus announced by respondent No.2 herein, the Central Board of Secondary Education (C.B.S.E] and Indian Council of Secondary Education [I.C.S.E]. The books include the model question papers of respondent No.2 annually conducted Board of Intermediate Examinations for the benefit of the students. The petitioner had been publishing these books from 1993 legitimately and the average annual turnover in the last few years has been Rs. 3.5 to 4 crore. The books published by the petitioner are followed and respected for their content, style and substance and the petitioner has a niche of its own amongst the publishers. The petitioner engages senior professors and lecturers of the respective subjects on a contract basis, whose nature of work is to annually revise the books, and the annual edition is released into the market for sales during the month of July-August i.e., with the commencement of the academic year.

It is further stated that all of a sudden on 26.04.2011, officers of respondent Nos.2,4 and 7 inspected the premises of the petitioner without any notice and seized the printed books, printing material and sealed the factory premises calling the activity of the petitioner to be in violation of G.O.Rt.No.858 dated

09.11.2010 issued by respondent No.1 herein.

It is further stated that respondent No.1 issued G.O.Rt.

No.858 dated 09.11.2010 dir