IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY NINETH DAY OF APRIL TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE B.SESHASAYANA REDDY WRIT PETITION NO : 15328 of 2005 Between: Letter from the Member Secretary A.P. State Legal Service Authority, Govt. of A.P., High Court Building, Hyderabad, enclosing petition of Sri P.Madhavachari, R/o.18-1-337/219/6 Shankarbagh, Arundhathy Colony, Uppuguda, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND 1. The Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, A.P. 2. The Director General of Police, Govt. of A.P., Hyderabad 3. The Secretary to Govt. of A.P., Home (Police) Dept., Secretariat, Hyderabad. 4. The Secretary to the Govt. of A.P., Women Development and Child Welfare Dept. Secretariat, Hyderabad. 5. The Secretary to Govt. of A.P., Social Welfare Dept., Secretariat, Hyderabad. 6. G.Narasimha Goud, Family Counselling Center, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad. 7. K.Swarajyalakshmi, C/o Family Counselling Center,Santoshnagar Hyderabad. 8. R.Prabhakar Reddy, President of Gowtipura Division, C/o.Family Counselling Center Santoshnagar, Hyderabad. 9. T.Venkata Reddy, Advocate, Mythri Member of Santoshnagar C/o.Family Counselling Center,Santoshnagar Hyderabad. 10. Narender Gound, Businessman C/o.Family Counselling Center, Santoshnagar, Hyderabad. 11. The State Legal Services Authority, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad. (R11 is impleaded as per Court Order dated 08.10.2007.) .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court mat be pleased to issue an Order, direction, or a writ, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus to call for the records and remarks from the Respondents 1 to 5 herein relating to (i) holding of Family Couselling Center, Santoshnagar by one Narasimha Goud, Respondent No.6 herein, which was aided and abutted by Respondents 7 to 10 herein, for cheating, harassment and breaking of several innocent families in the guise of couselling (ii) running of many such centers illegally styling themselves as Family Counselling Centers in the city of Hyderabad and also in other parts of the State of A.P. without any authorization either from the Court or from the Legal Services Authority or from the Government of Andhra Pradesh by some persons with self-interest, and indulging in illegal activities and collecting huge amounts of money from the victims; (iii) and to direct the concerned authorities to curb such illegal and fake Family Counselling Centers existing throughout the State of Andhra Pradesh by taking suitable action against the persons, concerned and to pass such other or further orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner: LETTER Counsel for the Respondents 1 to 5: GP FOR HOME Counsel for the Respondent No.11: Smt. M.Bhaskar Lakshmi The Court made the following : ORDER (PER HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY) Letter from the Member Secretary, Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad, enclosing the complaint petition, dated 04.07.2005, signed by six people, addressed to the Secretary, A.P. State Legal Service Authority, Hyderabad, was taken up as a writ petition, wherein, it was complained that G.Narasimha Goud, K.Swarajyalakshmi, R.Prabhakar Reddy, T.Venkata Reddy and Narender Goud along with others colluded and were organizing and running a family counseling centre at Santhoshnagar, Hyderabad. It is stated in the complaint that the said family counseling centre was running since a long time and that they have colluded to cheat innocent people on the pretext of arranging family counseling by demanding Rs.1,000/- at the first instance and later extracting the maximum amounts from the victims. Recently, one of the complainants viz., P.Madhavachari, who performed his daughter’s marriage at the age of 18 years in the year 2001, became victim of the said family counseling centre, who took advantage of the family disputes between the complainant and his wife, and who not settled the dispute, but spoiled the relationship between himself and his wife beyond repair. 2. On issuing notice to the respondents, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Zone, Hyderabad filed counter affidavit stating that the Member Secretary, A.P. State Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad, addressed a letter to the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad on 10.06.2005 requesting to arrange a press meet on the illegal exploitation of the persons who approached the family counseling centres, which was forwarded to the Station House Officer, Santoshnagar P.S. through Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Zone and the concerned Asst. Commissioner of Police, on 28.06.2005. On receipt of the complaint petition, the Sub-Inspector of Police, Santoshnagar Police Station made an entry in the General Diary on the same day and tried to obtain information from the petitioner with regard to the allegations made in the complaint, but, it seems, the petitioner was not available. The petitioner approached the Station House Officer, Santoshnagar P.S. and lodged a complaint on 22.07.2005 narrating the same facts, which he had mentioned in the letter addressed to the Commissioner of Police and also to him. Based on the complaint, a case in Crime No.176 of 2005 for the offence under Section 420 IPC was registered on 22.07.2005 and investigation was taken up by the Station House Officer, Santoshnagar P.S. 3. This Court, by an order dated 08.10.2007 impleaded the Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad, as a party respondent and pursuant to the same, the Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority appeared before this Court on 22.10.2007 and informed that a letter has already been addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad with regard to unauthorized running of Family Counseling Centres. Further on 29.10.2007 the Member Secretary, A.P. Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad reported that no correspondence has taken place by the A.P.Legal Services Authority with the Police authorities and that only the copies of the complaints are forwarded to the police. 4. In view of the same, the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad and the Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad were directed to furnish information with regard to the Family Counseling Centres that are existing in Hyderabad City and also through out the State. In pursuance of the said order, the Member Secretary, State Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad addressed letters to the District Legal Services Authorities in the State, calling for information with regard to running of family counseling centres on 23.11.2007 and the information received by them was furnished to this Court, which reads as under: Sl.No. Name of the District No. of Family Counselling Centres 01. Adilabad 01 02. Chittoor 08 03. East Godavari 136 04. Guntur 03 05. Karimnagar 02 06. Kadapa 02 07. Kurnool 11 08. Khammam 08 09. Krishna 04 10. Medak 46 11. Nalgonda 05 12. Nellore 02 13. Prakasam 06 14. Ranga Reddy 09 15. Srikakulam 02 16. Visakhapatnam 12 17. Vizianagaram 03 18. Warangal 09 19. West Godavari 06 20. Hyderabad 04 In respect of Hyderabad city, they have received information from the Commissioner of Police, vide letter No.L&O/N1/4770/05-07, dated 19.11.2007, wherein the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad informed that there are four family counseling centers being run, out of which two appears to be run under the supervision of the concerned police, one by Sward Organisation and the other by Raksha Organisation. 5. The Andhra Pradesh State Legal Services Authority, Hyderabad appointed full time Secretaries to all the District Legal Services Authorities in the cadre of Senior Civil Judges, who are also doing mediation and counseling with the parties approached them or referred by the courts concerned. If the terms of compromise are arrived at, those matters are being placed before the respective Lok Adalats for passing of awards under the provisions of A.P. State Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 and the A.P. State Legal Services Authority has neither established nor recognized any Family Counseling Centres in the State to run by organizations or by individuals. The Additional Director General of Police, CID, AP., addressed a letter to the Government Pleader (Home), High Court of A.P., Hyderabad, on 24.03.2008 enclosing remand case diary part-1 in Crime No.176 of 2005 of Santoshnagar P.S. requesting to remand the accused till completion of the investigation, since there seems to be several victims of the said family counseling center. 6. The police have already acted on the basis of the complaint petition, by registering a crime, arresting the accused and produced before VII Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Nampally, Hyderabad, for necessary orders. 7. In view of the above, it is necessary to curb the family counseling centres, which are exploiting money with false representations and cheating the people at large. The Secretaries of the District Legal Services Authorities, Andhra Pradesh have to lodge necessary reports before the concerned police whenever it comes to light that such family counseling centres are established unauthorisedly. On such a complaint being lodged by the Secretaries, District Legal Services Authority, concerned police personnel shall necessarily make a G.D. entry to take further action in accordance with law and intimate the action taken by them to the concerned Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority. 8. With the above directions, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs. Registry is directed to mark a copy of this order to all the Secretaries of the District Legal Services Authorities of the State. ______________ A.GOPAL REDDY, J. ______________________ B.SESHASAYANA REDDY, J. Date:29th April, 2008. Cs/tnb ..... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1. The Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, A.P. 2. The Director General of Police, Govt. of A.P., Hyderabad 3. The Secretary to Govt. of A.P., Home (Police) Dept., Secretariat, Hyderabad. 4. The Secretary to the Govt. of A.P., Women Development and Child Welfare Dept. Secretariat, Hyderabad. 5. The Secretary to Govt. of A.P., Social Welfare Dept., Secretariat, Hyderabad. 6. The State Legal Services Authority, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad. 7. All the Secretaries of the District Legal Services Authorities of the State. 8. .2CCs to the Government Pleader for Home, High Court of A.P., Hyderabad (OUT) 9.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{MPL}