IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU

DATED THIS THE 02^ND DAY OF DECEMBER, 2021

BEFORE

THE HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SREENIVAS HARISH KUMAR

CRIMINAL PETITION NO.5473 OF 2019

BETWEEN:

1.

Chandrashekar L.,

S/o Late Lingaiah,

Aged about 55 years,

Revenue Officer/Manager,

Maddur Town Municipality,

Maddur @ Taluk,

Mandya District-571428.

2.

Sneha K.S.,

Aged about 45 years,

Environmental Engineer,

Channapatna,

City Municipal Council,

Channaptna @ Taluk,

Ramanagara District-571501.

3.

Naveen B.,

Aged about 36 years,

Junior Engineer,

City Municipal Council,

Mandya @ District-571401.

4.

Rangaswamy,

Aged about 45 years,

JCB Driver, CMC,

Mandya-571401.

…Petitioners

(By Sri G.M.Ananda, Advocate)

:: 2 ::

AND:

M.T.Krishnappa,

S/o Sri Thimmaiah,

Aged about 74 years,

R/at Punitha Hotel Complex,

Adjacent to KSRTC Bus Stand,

M.C.Road, Mandya-571401.

…Respondent

(By Sri R.S.Ravi, Advocate)

This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482

of

Cr.P.C.

praying

to

quash

the

proceedings

in

C.C.No.454/2019 (PCR No.83/2019 dated 06.02.2019)

pending on the file of the Principal Civil Judge and

JMFC, Mandya, Registered on 06.02.2019.

This Criminal Petition coming on for admission

this day, the Court made the following:

ORDER

The petitioners being accused 2 to 5 in

C.C.454/2019 arising from PCR 83/2019 on the file

of Principal Civil Judge and JMFC, Mandya, have

sought quashing of the proceedings against them.

2. The respondent initiated action against the

petitioners and other accused alleging an incident

said to have taken place on 27.8.2015. In para 9

:: 3 ::

of the complaint he has stated that in the early

hours of 27.8.2015, accused 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 illegally

removed the supporting walls built by him on the

two sides of the drainage and removed the cement

slabs covering the open drainage with the help of

JCB and other machineries. He alleged excesses

on the part of the petitioners and thus requested

the Magistrate to initiate action for the offences

under sections 24, 26, 43, 44, 119, 120B, 143,

447, 166, 432 read with 34 IPC.

3.

The

above

alleged

incident

has

a

background that along side the building belonging

to the respondent, there is an open drainage

running East to West 11’, North to South 355’.

The drainage was emitting foul smell and a

breeding place for mosquitoes. The respondent

sought permission of the City Municipal Council,

Mandya, for covering the drainage with stone and

cement slabs and accordingly on 19.4.1980, he

:: 4 ::

was granted permission. In the first stretch he

covered a part of the drainage with RCC slabs by

building supporting walls on the two sides of the

drainage. In the year 1999 he started covering

the remaining portion, but at that time the City

Municipal Council stopped his work. Therefore he

made

a

representation

to

the

Deputy

Commissioner, Mandya, on 5.5.1999. Thereafter,

the Deputy Commissioner by obtaining a report

from the Assistant Commissioner directed the City

Municipality to permit or allow the respondent to

cover the remaining portion of the drainage and

the same was communicated to him on 15.5.1999.

But, the City Municipal Council by that time had

passed a resolution withdrawing the permission

accorded by it on 30.5.1980 and this resolution

was challenged by the respondent by preferring an

appeal before the Divisional Commissioner. On

12.10.1999 the Divisional Commissioner set aside

the resolution of the

City Municipality

which

:: 5 ::

thereafter

filed

Writ

Petition

No.

41060/1999

challenging

the

order

of

the

Divisional

Commissioner and it was dismissed. The City

Municipality

also

filed

a

suit

against

the

respondent,

O.S.167/1999

for

permanent

injunction and it also came to be dismissed for

non-prosecution in the year 2005. Therefore the

respondent stated that the high handed acts of the

petitioners and other accused resulted in his