T.Raghunath vs State Of Andhra Pradesh
2022 Latest Caselaw 1493 AP

                      HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

      MAIN CASE No: Crl.P.No.1666 of 2022
                               PROCEEDINGS SHEET
Sl.                                                                                OFFICE
                                                                                    NOTE
No.     DATE                                ORDER

                  DR,J
02.   25.3.2022
                         On     perusal      of    the     complaint,       the
                  petitioners/A4 to A6 herein are village revenue
                  officer, mandal revenue inspector and tahsildar.
                  The allegations are levelled against A1 and the
                  property is also registered in favour of A1.             The
                  petitioners herein have only entered the names of
                  A1 in the revenue records as per the registered
                  documents.

                         Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the
                  petitioners had relied on a judgment of the
                  Telangana High Court in Crl.P.No.5669 of 2013
                  dated 26.11.2021 wherein it is recited that:

                         ...When the civil suits are pending, filing the
                  criminal complaint stating that false entries were
                  made in the pahani patrikas and that the accused
                  brought into existence the fake 1-B certificate, is
                  considered as an attempt made by respondent

no.2 to color a civil dispute with a criminal nature. The allegations made in the FIR were predominantly having a civil flavour. The respondent no.2 could have approached the revenue authorities if he considered that the entries were wrongly made in the revenue records. If the revenue authorities had not responded, he could approach the Civil Court, which he had rightly done in this case. But filing a criminal case is considered not proper. The Hon'ble Apex Court in Indian Oil Corporation v. NEPC India Ltd (2006 6 SCC 736) cautioned the growing tendency in business circles to convert purely civil disputes into criminal cases and observed that:

"Any effort to settle civil disputes and claims, which do not involve any criminal offence, by applying pressure through criminal prosecution should be deprecated and discouraged."

In Inder Mohan Goswami vs. State of Uttaranchal (2007 12 SCC 1) after considering a series of decisions, the Hon'ble Apex Court observed that:

"The court must ensure that criminal prosecution is not used as an instrument of harassment or Sl. OFFICE NOTE No. DATE ORDER for seeking private vendetta or with an ulterior motive to pressurize the accused."

In G.Sagar Suri vs. State of U.P (2000 2 SCC 636) it was observed that:

"...it was duty and obligation of the criminal court to exercise a great deal of caution in issuing the process, particularly when matters are essentially of civil nature."

Considering the submissions, and in view of the above recited observations, there shall be stay of all further proceedings with regard to F.I.R.No.942/2020 of Hindupur I Town police station, Ananthapuramu district, with regard to petitioners/A4 to A6.

Post after three (03) weeks.

________ DR, J RD