IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY, THE TWENTY SIXTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH WRIT APPEAL NO : 1469 of 2008 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the Order dated 22/09/2008 in WP NO : 19437 OF 2008 on the file of the High Court.) Between: Malladi Satyanarayana Srinivasa Chakravarthi @ Srinivasa Chakravarthi, S/o. Late Ramabrahmam R/o.Mulagalampalli (V), Jeelugumilli (M), West Godavari District. ..... APPELLANT AND 1 Malladi Somasekhara Rao S/o.Satyanarayana R/o.Jangareddigudem (V&M), West Godavari District. 2 The Superintendent of Police, West Godavari District, Eluru 3 The Sub-Inspector of Police, Jeelugumilli, West Godavari District. 4 The Tahsildar, Jeelugumilli, West Godavari District. 5 Jenne Venkateswara Rao S/o. Arjun r/o. Jeelugumilli, W.G.district. .....RESPONDENT(S) Counsel for the Appellant:MR.NIMMAGADDA SATYANARAYANA Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR HOME The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH Writ Appeal No.1469 of 2008 Oral Judgment: (per D.S.R.Varma, J.) Despite service of notice, none appears for respondent No.5. 2. Heard Sri Nimmagadda Satyanarayana, learned Counsel appearing for appellant; Sri Naram Nageswara Rao, learned Counsel appearing for respondent No.1; the learned Government Pleader for Home appearing for respondents 2 and 3; and the learned Government Pleader for Revenue appearing for respondent No.4. 3. This writ appeal is filed challenging the order, dated 22-9-2008, passed by a learned single Judge of this Court in disposing of W.P.No.19437 of 2008 with a direction to the official respondents therein to take appropriate action in accordance with law as and when a request is made by the petitioner for police protection. 4. The appellant herein is respondent No.5, respondent No.1 is the petitioner, respondents 2 to 4 are respondents 1 to 3 and respondent No.5 is respondent No.4 in the writ petition. 5. It appears that the writ petitioner sought for police protection to protect his share in the joint family property on various grounds. Obviously, the nature of the dispute between respondent No.5 and the petitioner is a civil dispute. It is not known as to whether the parties have any share in the property or not, or whether the property is a joint family property or not. These are all pure questions of fact, which this Court cannot go into, while exercising its jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India. 6. Coming to the question of police protection, in normal course, no doubt, as and when the rights of an individual are being violated, police protection can be ordered by this Court. But, before passing any such order, there must be a valid reason on record. 7. As already noticed, the rights of the parties are purely civil in nature and what all before this Court is -- claims and counter- claims as regards the rights over the alleged joint family property. 8. Therefore, not only the petitioner, for that matter, any disputing party can approach the police by way of a petition or complaint and upon such petition being made, the police have to respond strictly, in accordance with law. 9. It is made clear that police protection cannot be granted for mere asking. Keeping over all circumstances in view, if the police arrive at a conclusion that any interference is absolutely warranted, then only a decision in that regard can be taken or normally, as already pointed out earlier, the parties have to resort to approach a civil Court seeking declaration of their rights, or in the present case, the land being situate in an agency area, before the competent authority under Regulation I of 1959, as amended by Regulation I of 1970 seeking a declaration of their rights. 10. With the above observations, the writ appeal is disposed of, at the stage of admission, confirming the impugned order in the writ petition. ____________________ JUSTICE D.S.R.VARMA ____________________ JUSTICE G.CHANDRAIAH 26th November, 2008. Ak ........REGISTRAR To 1. 2.2 CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WA {KURR}