High Court · 2025

The Office Of The Lok Ayukta rep. by Registrar, Lokayukta forthe States of Aniiri Fi"o""n ino rel'angan ii* i-s-qd' Basheerbagh, Hvderabad' Sri Y.Prem Kumar, Ri./ o. H.No.4-6-150, Qajan Mandir,, CR Basthi' kottragudem - 507 101, Khammam District' ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 ol lhe Constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstancesstatedintheaffidavitfiledtherewith,theHighCourtmaybe pleasedtoissueappropriatewrit,,orderordirection'particularlyawritofCertiorari calling for the records pertaining to order dt 11-08-2017 passed in Complaint No' 55112O16tF1 by the 1st Respondent and quash the same holding it as arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional. I.A. NO:2OF 2017 MP. NOi 40820 0F 20'17 PetitionunderSectionl5lcPCprayingthatinthecircumstancesstatedin the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High court may be pleased to suspend the operation of the Order dated 11-08-2017 passed in Complaint No' Sslt2ol6lBlbytheRespondentNo.l,pendingdisposalofthewritpetitioninthe interest of justice l.A. NO: 1 oF 2017(WVM P. NO:492 7 0F 20171 Between: 9ri Y.Prem Kumar, Rl/ o. H.No.4-6-j5Q, Bajan Mandir,, CR Basthi, Kothagudem - 507 1O1, Khammam Oistrici. AND 1 2 ..,PETITIONER shri. sutritha Elattacharva. r g E{ cMD The singareni coilieries company Ltd, Singareni Bhavan, nej Hitls, frvAeilUra." - "'-'' The Office Of The Lok Ayukta rep, by Regiskar, Lokayukta for f he States of Andhra pradesrr and Tetinsinr,'* s:g_+s:''d;n#iL,isjn, Hyderabad. (2nd Respondent not necessa ry pat,tyto this petitione) ...RESPONDENTS Petition under {rection 151 cpc praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit fired in support of the petition, the High court may be preased to vacate the interim orders passed in wp No. 32828 of 2017 dr.22.09.2017 pending disposal of the above ,writ petition. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRl BOBBILt SRIN|VAS, REpRESENTS SRI NANDIGAM KRISHNA RAO Counsel forthe Respondents: NONE AppEARED The Court made the following: ORDER THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE ALOK ARADHE AND THE HON'B LE SRI JUST ICE J. SREENIVAS RAO WRIT PETITION No.32 a28 of 2Ol7 ORDER: (Per the Hon'ble the Chief Justice Alok Aradhe) Mr. Bobbili Srinivas, learned counsel represents Mr. Nandigam Krishna Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner. None for the resPondents' In this writ petition, the petitioner has assailed the 2. validity of order dated 1I'Oa'2O17 passed by the office of Lokayukta on the complaint filed by respondent No'2'

3. Facts giving rise to filing of this petition briefly stated are that the petitioner is the Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Bellampalli Area (hereinafter referred to as "the Company') represented by its Chairman and Managing Director. The Company is a Government Company within the meaning of Section 2 of tb'e Companies Act' 2013' and is engaged in the work of exploration' excavation' extraction and winning of coal in six districts in the State ! I I I I I 1 i i l i I i I I 2 of Telangana. Respondent No.2 filed a complaint against the petitioncr Company on lZ .02.2076 inter rzlia on the ground that the petitioner is responsible for the illegalities in production, sale and transportation of coal in Bellampalii l\rea. Thereupon, the ofhce of Lokayukta has entertained r he complaint submitted by responden t No.2 and directed the Director Investigation of Lokayukta to carry out an investigation and submit the report. 4 . Section 2 (a), 2(b) as well as Section ./ of the Tela:rgana Lokayukta Act, 19g3, read as under: "2. Definition s:_ (a) ,action, means an administrative action trtkcn by a public servant by way of clecrsron. recomrn,tndation or fi1di1g or in any other rnanner, and includes ally omission ald commission zrn cl failure to act rn connection with or arising out of such aclion; irnd all olher exprcssions connecling ar.rion shall bc :onstrued accordingly. (b) 'allegation'in relation to a public servant means any affirrnation that such public sen ant _ (i) has abused his position as such, to obt.rin any gain or favour to himself or to any other pe[so11, or to cause undue harm or h:rrlship to any other person; (ia) has failed to discharge thc functions attached to his post. : : i 3 (ii) was actuatecl in the discharge of his functions as such public servant by improper or corrupt motive and thereby caused loss to the State or ary member or section o[ the public; or (iii) is guilty of corruption, or lack of integrity in his capacity as such public servant'

7. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act' the t okay'ukta may investigate'arry action which is taken by, or with the general or specihc approval of' or at the behest of,- (i) a Minister or a SecretarY; or (ii) a Member of either House of the State Legislature; or (iii) a Mayor ot t he Municipal Corporation .o.r"tii-..t.a by oi uncter the relevant law for the time being in force; or (iii-a) a Vice Chancellor or a Registrar of a University; (iv) any other public servant, belonging to such class or seclio, of public servants, as may be nolihed i , tft. Co".."rn.rri i,, this behalf after consultation t'f-l. Lokayukta. in arly case where a complaint i,fl involving an allegation is made in respect ol su('ll J. such action can be or could have been' in of the Lokal'ukla, the subject of an ^.tio.r, ,fr. allegation. ".piti." (2) Subjdct to the provisions of this Act' the Upa- f,oUl'olt, may investi[ate any action which. is r'l".'lt -f*t the g.rle,al or specihc approval of' aly ^tzrken olth.. th'n those referred lo in sub- "'r",Ui" ".*4",, trJ, in any case where a complaint involving an !.*f." it' respect of such action' or such "il;;;;r';" be or could have been, in the opinion of the "","f-."-.". Ufa-Lokalukta, the subject of an allegation' -ri. ,/ ./ 4 - (3) Notwithstanding anl.thing in sub_scctron (2), , the Ltkayukta may, for reasons to be rccorded rn writinq, inr.estigate aly allegation in respect of an action rvhrch may be invcstigated by the UpLr_ Lokayukta under that sub-section, whether or n,rt complaint has been made to the I-okayukta in respec:t o[ su c -r action. (1) Where two or more Upa_Lokaluktas ar_e appoirLtcd under this Act, the Lokay-ukia may b1. general or special order, assign to each of thcrn matters which may be investigated by them under thrs Act: Frovided that no investigation made by the Upa- Lokayrrkta under this Act and no action- taken or thing lone by him in rcspect of such investigalion sl'rall be called in question on the ground onli that srr( h invcsligalion relales to a matier whir.h ls not assignr:cl ro him by such order.,,

5. Thus, liom a perusal of the aforesaid provisions, it is evident that the action can be taken by the Lokayukta in respect of a complaint as defined under Section 2(a) of the Telangana Lrl<avukta Act, 19g3. The aforesaid Ac:t does not authorize the Lokayukta to take action against any alleged irregtrlarity in the sale or transportation of the coal. The impugned order is therefore per se u,ithout jurisdictior-r. The same is therefore, quashed. Hou,ever, liberty is les,:rved to respondent No.2 to take recourse to such remedy as may be available to him in lan, with regard to his grievance. l 5 6 Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of. Miscellaneous petitions, pending if any, stand closed There shall be no order as to costs. SD/.S. MALLIKARJUNA RAO T REGISTRAR ASSIST //TRUE COPY// ION OFFICER

1. The office of The Lok Ayukta rep. by Registrar, Lokayukta.for the states of ' Andhra Pradesh and Tel-angana, # 5-9-49, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad' 2. One CC to Sri Nandigam Krishna Rao, Advocate [OPUC] 3. Two CD Copies \ vy_ To, TJ BS \ HIGH COURT DATED:0710112025 ORDER WP.No.32828 of 2017 ...|:= 1 r6: f, C \ii; E i FrB 2025 z * D li LTi' DISPOSING OF THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS e6 tla{