IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 13721 of 2005 Between: Palle Vinod Kumar, s/o Mallesham, R/o Jawaripet Village, Ellanthakunta Mandal, Karimnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Panchayat Secretary, Grama Panchayat, Jawaripet Village, Ellanthakunta Mandal, Karimnagar District. 2 The Mandal Revenue Officer, Ellanthakunta Mandal, Karimnagar District. 3 The District Panchayat Officer, Karimnagar District. .....RESPONDENTS Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI.S.GOPAL RAO Counsel for Respondents 2 and 3: GP FOR PANCHAYAT RAJ & RURAL DEV. Counsel for respondent No.1 : SRI .G. ELISHA The Court made the following : O R D E R: At the interlocutory stage, the writ petition is taken up for hearing and disposal with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties. This writ petition is filed for a writ of Mandamus to declare the action of the respondents in not issuing death certificate of late Palle Mallaiah to the petitioner as illegal and arbitrary. The petitioner claimed that his grandfather by name Palle Mallaiah expired on 20-01-2005 due to ill-health, while he was working as Attender in Upper Primary School, Jawaripet Village, Ellanthakunta Mandal, Karimnagar District, that after his death the petitioner informed respondent No.1, who is the Officer concerned to register the births and deaths in the village, to register the death and issue the death certificate. But, respondent No.1 did not do so. The petitioner further averred that against the inaction of respondent No.1, he made representation dated 04-02-2005 to respondent No.2 to direct respondent No.1 to issue death certificate of Palle Mallaiah, S/o Narsaiah apart from submitting an application to respondent No.3 to issue necessary instructions in this regard; that respondent No.3 issued proceedings dated 21-03-2005 directing respondent No.2 to look into the issue and take action according to Rules and that in spite of the said direction, respondent No.2 has not taken any action for issuance of death certificate of the petitioner’s grandfather. Therefore, the petitioner filed the present writ petition. Respondent No.1 filed a counter-affidavit, in which he, inter alia, denied the contention of the petitioner that Palle Mallaiah, who is claimed to be the petitioner’s grandfather, died on 20-01-2005. He stated that Palle Mallaiah, S/o Narsaiah is alive; that the person who died on 20-01-2005 was Palle Narsaiah, S/o Bhoomaiah and that he was not the Attender of Upper Primary School, Jawaripet, Ellanthakunta Mandal, Karimnagar District. According to respondent No.1, in view of the above mentioned fact, he declined to issue death certificate. It is further stated that Palle Mallaiah @ Mallesham, S/o Narsaiah is the father of the petitioner, who was appointed as part-time Sweeper in Zilla Parishad School, Jawaripet on 02-08-1962 and he was subsequently promoted as a full-time Sweeper and later as Attender on 01-04- 1989, that the said person contested for the post of Sarpanch, Jawaripet without resigning to the post of the Attender and won the elections and that after he became the Sarpanch, he sent his father Palle Narsaiah, S/o Bhoomaiah to discharge the duties of Attender of the school from 1994 and that some villagers made complaints against Palle Mallaiah to Zilla Parishad and an enquiry was instituted, during which it was found that the charges levelled against him were proved and accordingly, the Chief Executive Officer placed him under suspension, pending disciplinary proceedings, which was challenged before the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal in O.A.No.346 of 2000; that the said O.A. was disposed of on 14-02-2000 and that on the basis of the complaints, Palle Mallaiah was removed from the post of Sarpanch by respondent No.3. It is further stated that neither Palle Mallaiah nor the petitioner applied for the death certificate of Palle Narsaiah, S/o Bhoomaiah. The pleadings of the parties clearly show that there is a dispute regarding the claim of the petitioner that he is the grandson of Palle Mallaiah. According to the respondents, Palle Mallaiah is the father of the petitioner, who is alive and it is only Narsaiah, the father of Palle Mallaiah i.e., the grandfather of the petitioner, who died. The question whether Palle Mallaiah died or Palle Narsaiah died and whether Palle Mallaiah or Palle Narsaiah is the grandfather of the petitioner are disputed questions of fact, which cannot be adjudicated in this writ petition. Hence, the appropriate remedy for the petitioner is to file a civil suit and seek a declaratory relief. The writ petition is, therefore, dismissed with liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent civil Court for the appropriate relief and in the event, the civil Court declares the petitioner as the grandson of Palle Mallaiah, the respondents shall issue necessary death certificate to that effect. As a sequel to dismissal of main petition, WPMP No. 17425 of 2005 filed by the petitioner for interim relief is dismissed as infructuous. C.V.NAGARJUNA REDDY,J Dated 4th July, 2008 vrn