IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF ANDHRAPRADESH AT HYDERABAD HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU CRIMINAL PETITION No.5634 of 2009 DATE:18.11.2010 Between: Gummadi Raju @ Nagaraju and others …… Petitioners And The State of Andhra Pradesh rep. By its Public Prosecutor and another …..Respondents HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU CRIMINAL PETITION No.5634 of 2009 ORDER: The petitioners 1 to 5/A-1 to A-5 are accused of offences punishable under Sections 143, 447, 427 I.P.C, Sections 3, 4, 5 of the A.P. Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 1988 (in short, the Act) and Section 7(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act in C.C. No.4 of 2008 on the file of Principal Junior Civil Judge-cum-Special Judicial Magistrate of the First Class for trial of Land Grabbing cases, Ranga Reddy District at Lal Bahadur Nagar. Subject matter of the crime is land in S.No.51 of Uppal Khalsa village. It is alleged that A-1 to A-5 under the leadership of A-1 formed into unlawful assembly, criminally trespassed into the said land, dug pits and erected more than 700 huts with bamboo sticks and thatches covered with plastic sheets with a view to grab the land. The land is measuring Ac.2-20 guntas in extent. 2) The only point urged by the petitioners’ counsel is that as per Section 12 of the Act, no Court other than the Special Court shall take cognizance of an offence punishable under the Act except with the previous sanction of the Special Tribunal, which sanction shall be accorded having regard to the circumstances of each case. Section 11 of the Act deals with trial of such offences by a Magistrate of the First Class specially empowered by the Government in this behalf. The lower Court is such a Court specially empowered by the Government under Section 11 of the Act. On perusal of allegations in the charge sheet filed by the police, there is no mention about obtaining sanction of the Special Tribunal under Section 12 of the Act. In the absence of such sanction under Section 12, the charge sheet is incompetent in so far as offences punishable under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act. 3) Even though the charge sheet is not in accordance with law in respect of the offences under the Act are concerned, the entire charge sheet is not liable to be quashed as there are other penal provisions of law such as Sections 143, 447, 427 I.P.C and Section 7(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which are liable to be tried and decided by the lower Court. 4) In the result, the Criminal Petition is partly allowed quashing proceedings in C.C. No.4 of 2008 of the lower Court in so far as offences punishable under the A.P. Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 1988 are concerned; and the Criminal Petition is partly dismissed in respect of other offences. _______________________________ SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU, J November 18, 2010 ksh