IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N.TUKARAMJI WRIT PETITION No.7197 OF 2020 DATE: 10.03.2026 Between :

M VenkataSwamy … Petitioner AND State of Telangana Rep by its Principal Secretary Home Department Secretariat Hyderabad and two others.

… Respondents.

O R D E R:

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

“…To issue any appropriate Writ Order or direction more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the registration of FIR No 203/2020 dated 18/05/2020 on the file of I Town PS Godavarikhani under Sections 447 and 427 IPC against the Petitioner as illegal null void and arbitrary………..”

2.1. The case of the petitioner, stated succinctly is that he is the absolute owner and possessor of agricultural land admeasuring Ac.1.20 guntas situated in Survey No.165 of Mulkapur Village, Ramagundam Mandal, formerly in Karimnagar District and presently in Peddapalli District.

2.2. A civil dispute has arisen in respect of the said land. In that regard, the petitioner’s wife instituted O.S. No.13 of 2014 on the file of the VI Additional District Judge and successfully obtained an order of interim injunction against certain private parties, thereby protecting her possession pending adjudication. It is well settled that an order of temporary injunction granted under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, operates to preserve the status quo and restrain interference with possession.

2.3. Subsequently, proceedings were initiated by the Revenue Divisional Officer under Section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.), which provision is intended to prevent breach of peace concerning disputes relating to land or water. However, the said proceedings were stayed by a competent Court at the instance of the petitioner’s wife, thereby rendering further action under Section 145 Cr.P.C. in abeyance.

2.4. While the matter stood thus, on 08.05.2020, when the petitioner was undertaking cleaning operations on the subject land using a JCB bearing Registration No. TS 02 ER 5269, Respondent No.3/the Tahsildar allegedly arrived at the site along with his staff and seized the said vehicle. The seizure was effected without issuing any prior notice, without preparing a seizure panchanama, and without following the procedure prescribed under law, particularly the safeguards embodied in Sections 100 and 102 Cr.P.C. governing search and seizure. The vehicle was thereafter retained in the custody of the Tahsildar’s office.

2.5. Aggrieved by such action, the petitioner’s wife submitted a representation dated 11.05.2020 to the District Collector seeking release of the vehicle. Subsequently, on 22.05.2020, it came to the knowledge of the petitioner that Respondent No.3 had lodged a complaint leading to registration of FIR No.203 of 2020 for offences punishable under Sections 447 (criminal trespass) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The allegation was that the petitioner had trespassed into Government land in the same survey number using the aforesaid JCB.

3.1. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the registration of FIR No.203 of 2020 is wholly illegal, arbitrary, and amounts to an abuse of process of law. It is contended that the allegations, even if taken at face value, do not disclose the commission of any cognizable offence, thereby attracting the principles laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335, wherein categories of cases warranting quashment of criminal proceedings were enumerated.

3.2. It is further submitted that the dispute is purely civil in nature, relating to title and possession of immovable property, and is already sub judice before a competent civil Court, which has granted an order of interim injunction in favour of the petitioner’s wife. In such circumstances, initiation of criminal proceedings is