A writ petition under Article 226 is not maintainable for non-registration of FIR when there are statutory remedies available.

O R D E R:

This Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India seeking the following relief/s:-

“…to issue a writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, declaring the action of the respondents No.3 in not action on the petitioners complaint dt.16-03- 2017 and not providing police protection to protect the petitioners possession over his property bearing H.No.10-195, on Plot No.s33/1 and 33/2, in Sy.No.203, Admeasuring 200 Sq.yards or equivalent to 167.22 Sq Meters, having built-up area 100 sq. Feet With A.C.C.Sheets, Situated at Sunrise Nagar, Balapur Village, Saroornagar Mandal, Rangareddy District, from interference by the respondents No.4 to 6, as illegal, arbitrary and against the principles of natural justice and consequentially direct the respondents No.1 to 3 to provide police protection to thee petitioner to protect his possession over his aforesaid property, from interference by the respondents No.4 to 6, and may pass..….”

2. None appears on behalf of the petitioner.

3. I have heard Mr.R.Laxmikanth Reddy, learned Assistant Government Pleader for Home appearing for respondent Nos.

1 to 3.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, pursuant to the representation dated 16.03.2017, the police failed to register a Crime/FIR. Consequently, counsel prays for the issuance of an appropriate direction to the Superintendent of Police or the officer concerned to ensure registration of the case.

5. Learned Assistant Government Pleader for Home submits that filing of writ petition seeking a direction to register a case, is not maintainable as per the settled legal position.

6. I have perused the materials on record.

7. The essence of the petitioner’s grievance is that the concerned police authorities failed to register a case based on their representation dated 16.03.2017. Consequently, the petitioner seeks a direction from this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to compel the police to register a crime.

7. In this regard, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Sakiri Vasu v. State of U.P. & Others, AIR 2008 SC 907, has laid down that a writ petition under Article 226 is ordinarily not maintainable when the grievance pertains to the non-registration of an FIR, inasmuch as the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) provides an adequate and efficacious remedy. Following this principle, this Court, in Govind Raju Sami v. State of Telangana , 2019 SCC Online TS 3491, reiterated that a petitioner must exhaust the statutory remedies available under the Cr.P.C (now replaced by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, wherever applicable) before invoking the writ jurisdiction of the High Court.

8. This legal position has been further reinforced by a three-judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in M. Subramaniam v. S. Janaki & Others, AIR 2020 SC 387, wherein it was clarified that the appropriate remedy in such cases is to approach the Magistrate under the procedure contemplated in law, rather than directly invoking the writ jurisdiction.

9. In view of the settled legal position, the relief sought by the petitioner under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot be entertained, particularly in the absence of any exceptional or extraordinary circumstances demonstrated in the writ petition. The scheme of law provides adequate and efficacious remedies before the competent Magistrate, which the petitioner is at liberty to pursue in accordance with law, should the cause of action still subsist.