i IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH ;; AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY FOURTH DAY OF JANUARY ([g TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE A. PRESENT THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO WRIT PETITION NO: 29880 OF 2024 Between: The Marine Fisheries Cooperative Society, E 97 represented by its President Saikam Nagaraju, S/o. Nageswar Rao, Aged about 45 years, R/o. 48-8, Nachugunta Village, Nagayalanka Mandal, Krishna District. ...PETITIONER AND 1. The State of AP, rep by its Principle Secretary Fisheries Department Secretariat Buildings, Velagapudi, Amaravathi Guntur District. 2. The Joint Director of Fisheries, Krishna District, Machilipatnam. 3. The Deputy Director of Fisheries, Machilipatnam ,Krishna District. 4. The Tahasildar, Nagayalanka Mandal, Krishna District. 5. The Forest Range Officer, Wild Life Management, Avanigadda , Krishna District. 6. The Station House Officer, Nagayalanka Police Station Krishna District. ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue order more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring the in action of the responds in preventing the petitioners society i.e The Marine Fishermen Co- operative Society no E 97 Nachugunta, Nagayalanka Mandal In doing traditional fishing within the limits of catchment area as illegal arbitrary, unconstitutional and violative of Article 14 ,19 (1)(g) ,and 21 of the constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to permit the the petitioners society to do traditional V caching of fish and crabs within the area of their village limits catchment area. lA NO: 1 OF 2024 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, the High Court may be pleased to direct the respondents to consider the case of the petitioners society to do traditional fish and crab catching with in the limits of catchment area of The Marine Fishermen co-oparative Society no E97,Nachugunta village, Nagayalanka Mandal Krishna District. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI B. S. N. NAIDU Counsel for the Respondent Nos.1 to 3 : GP FOR FISHERIES Counsel for the Respondent No.4 : GP FOR REVENUE Counsel for the Respondent No.5 : GP FOR FOREST Counsel for the Respondent No.6 : GP FOR HOME The Court made the following: ORDER # % THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE TARLADA RAJASEKHAR RAO WRIT PETITION No. 29880 of 2024 ORDER: The petitioner society was registered under the Cooperative Societies Act in the year 2021 with an objective to provide support to its members to do fishing and crab catching. It appears from the affidavit filed in support of the Writ Petition, there is dispute among the two villages i.e. Jinkapalem village of 2. Nagayalanka Mandal and Petitioner’s village-Nachugunta. Be that as it may, one Pedasingu Mahalakshmayya resident of Jinkapalem village filed W.P. No.5459 of 2024 to declare the inaction of the official respondents therein in disposing of the representation 3. dated 04.09.2023 in preventing the traps/ baskets / placing in the water with a rotten meat / spoiled fish / cats, in water, canal shores, in huge mangrove forest, to catch wild animals in the limits of Jinkapalem As if the society, using the wrong village, Nagayalanka Mandal. methods in catching fishes. The said representation was disposed of vide order dated 01.03.2024 directing the petitioner therein to submit a fresh representation to the Forest Range Officer within a period of one week from the date of receipt of the order and on receipt of the fresh representation, the 3'^'^ respondent is directed to conduct enquiry and ¥ 2 initiate action against persons using trap boxes within a period of four weeks there from. As per the orders in W.P. No.5459 of 2024, the respondent 4. authorities have conducted a meeting on 17.08.2024. In the meeting the people of both the villages i.e. Nachugunta and Jinkapalemwere called for by the official respondents as per the directive issued by this Court in W.P. No.5459 of 2024. And it is declared as false that cause of the death of wild animals due to the use of traps/ baskets and using of rotten meat, fish and other materials. Now, the petitioner-society contends that not allowing the 5. petitioners to catch fishes and crabs without placing trap boxes / baskets would amounts to violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and inter alia prayed to direct the respondents to permit the petitioner-society to catch fishes and crabs within their river area limits for their livelihood basing upon the meeting conducted on 17.08.2024. The 2"^ respondent-fisheries department filed counter affidavit 6. and stated that crab fishing area comes under the mangrove forest area and it is under the forest department and the forest department is the authority to take decision. 3 The 5'^ respondent-Forest Range Officer filed counter affidavit stating that the villagers can do fishing or crab catching only for the bonafide need and in the present case, the petitioners or Nachugunta 7. villagers are deploying huge number of traps or cages for crab catching and inturn being sold in the market, which is a commercial activity, which is against the Wild Life (P) Act, 1972. The method of placing decomposed meet is polluting the water in the surrounding areas resulting in loss of aquatic life. The method of deploying trap boxes or cages is not traditional method and this method of crab catching depletes the natural resources affecting the mangrove vegetation. In the method of crab catching will cause a grave threat to the biodiversity and thereby there is a chance of extinction of the crab species within no time and which leads to imbalance in mangrove eco system and biodiversity. The traditional method of crab catching is deploying ring nets. Therefore, prayed to dismiss the Writ Petition. On careful examination of the minutes of the meeting held on 8. 17.08.2024, that it is stated the death of wild animals is not because of fall and die in the crab trap boxes and there is a border dispute between the neighbouring villages but the department has nothing to do with that and the report dated 18.08.2024 of the Divisional Forest Officer that it clearly spelt out that there was no instance of fishing cats getting trapped in the boxes or crab traps. 4 9. The resolution passed in the meeting held on 17.12.2024 is binding on both the petitioners and respondents and neighbouring villagers and it is deemed to be in force till today, it is not being implemented. Hence, there shall be a direction to the respondents to allow the petitioner-society to do traditional catching of fish within the area of their village limits of catchment area. However, the petitioner- society shall give undertaking to the Forest Range Officer not to cause any harm to wild animals. 10. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs. As a sequel thereto, interlocutory applications pending, if any, in this Writ Petition, shall stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs. Sd/- M. PRABHAKAR RAO ASSISTANT //TRUE COPY// REGJ^TRAR SECTION OFFICER To, State Of AP Buildings, Velagapudi, Amaravathi Guntur District. 2. The Joint Director of Fisheries, Krishna District, 3. The Deputy Director of Fisheries, Machilipatnam 4. The Tahasildar, NagayaTanka Mandal '-'f® Management, Avanig^da . Krishna 6. The Station House Officer, Nagayalanka^Police Station Secretariat Machilipatnam. Krishna District. Krishna District. Krishna District. .7 V 7. One CC to Sri B. S. .N Naidu, Advocate [OPUC] 8. Two CCs to GP for Fisheries, THigh Court of Andhra Pradesh. [OUT] 9. Two CCs to GP for Revenue^ High Court of Andhra Pradesh. [OUT 10.Two CCs to GP for Forest, High Court of Andhra Pradesh. [OUT 11 .Two CCs to GP for Home, High Court of Andhra Pradesh. [OUT] 12. Three C.D. Copies. Cnr N '' < HIGHjpOURT CNR DATED:24/01/2025 ORDER WP.No.29880 of 2024 2 8 JAN 2025 ^ . Current Section i( o 69 DISPOSING THE W.P. WITHOUT COSTS