lN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH :: AMARAVATl (Special Original Jurisdiction) WEDNESDAY, THE NINETEENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FIVE PRESENT HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR, THE CHIEF JUSTICE AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI WRIT PETITION (Plu NO: 30 OF 202_5_ Between I. Mallavarapu Lashmana Kumar, S/o Rama Krishnaiah Aged 65 years occ.self -Employee R/o FL.No.503 Krishna Residency Pingali Vnkaiah street Ramavarapadu Vijayawada Krishna AdharNo. 766171938156 Bank Account No 20172929821, State Bank of India Ramavarapadu ...Petitioner AND 1. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Chief Secretary to Government, Building let floor A.P. Secretariat, Velagupudi, Amaravati, Guntur Andhra Pradesh 2. The State,of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Principal Secretary (Home Department), Andhra Pradesh Secretar'lat, Room No.136, Ground Floor, Building No.2, Velagupudi, Amaravati Guntur. 3. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by its Secretary (Law and Legislature), Andhra Pradesh Secretar'lat, Velagupudi, Amaravati Guntur. 4. The State of Andhra Pradesh, Rep. by -Its Principal Secretary (Revenue Department) Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, Velagupudi, Andhra Pradesh. 5. The Director General of Police, Police Headquarters, Beside NH-16 Service Road, Mangalagiri Guntur. ...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 an order, writ or direction, more part'lcularly one in the nature of WRIT OF MANDAMUS declaring the action of the respondents tO the extent of dereliction of duties for controlling the unauthorized gaming clubs, to regulate and restrict online gambling, playing cards (ln Telugu popularly aS Pekata matka and betting in the state and implementation of Act 43 of 2020 Andhra Pradesh Gaming (Ameri-dment) Act, 2020 l's I'llegal arbitrary and violation of principles of natural justice and consequently direct the respondents to constl'tute a special Task force to eradicate unauthorized gaming clubs, to regulate and restrict online gambling, playing cards (In Telugu popularly as pekata , matka, betting and implementation of Act 43 of 2020 Andhra Pradesh Gaming (Amendment) Actl 2020. lANO:1 OF 2025 Petition under section 151 CPC praying that in the cl'rcumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be Pleased tO Direct the respondents to conduct scientI-fie audits for nab the Kingpl'ns running unauthorized gaming clubs pending disposal of the above writ petition in the interest of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI GUNDALA SIVA PRASADA REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR GENERAL ADMINISTRATION Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR HOME Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR REVENUE Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR LAW & LEGISLATURE The Court made the following order: APHCO10O71542O25 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH Bench Sr,No:-5 AT AMARAVATI WP(PIL) NO: 30 of 2025 Mallavarapu Lashmana Kumar Vs. The State of Andhra Pradesh and 4 others ********** Advocate for petitioner Advocates for Respondents [3483] ...Petitioner ...Respondents Mr. Gundala Siva Prasada Reddy GP for Home CORAM :THE CHIEF JUSTICE DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR SRI JUSTICE RAVI CHEEMALAPATI DATE : 19thFebruary,2025 Per DHIRAJ SINGH THAKUR, CJ: The present petition has been filed purportedly in public interest. The Petitioner Claims the following relief: ".... to issue an order, writ or direction, more particularly one in the natLIre Of WRIT OF MANDAMUS declaring the action of the respondents tO the extent Of dereliction of duties for controlling the unauthorized gaming clubs, to regulate and restrict online gambling, playing cards (ln Telugu popularly as "pekata"), matka and betting in the state and implementation of Act 43 of 2020 Andhra Pradesh Gaming (Amendment) Act, 2020 is illegal arbitrary and violation of Principles Of natural justice and consequently direct the respondents to constitute a Special Task Force to eradicate unauthorized gaming clubs, to regulate and restrict online gambling, playing cards (ln Telugu popularly as "pekata"), matka, betting and implementation of Act 43 of 2020 Andhra Pradesh Gaming (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Pass......" 2 HCJ&RCJ W.P.(PIL) No.30 of 2025 2. The petitioner claims that the respondents have been guilty of dereliction of duties and have failed to control unauthorized gaming clubs. His contention is that certain clubs are permitting their members as also the guests to play cards. Apart from this, it is stated that certain private persons were also permitting and facilitating their private clubs to be used for the purposes of gambling and playing cards. The petitioner also claims that the official respondents had failed to restrict online gambling and betting in the State despite the implementation of Act 43 of 2020, the Andhra Pradesh Gaming (Amendment) Act, 2020. At the very outset, we may point out that the present petition has been filed very very casually without there being any details as to which clubs were permitting the members to indulge in gambling and who were the private persons running private clubs for facilitating their members to indulge in gambling. The petitioner has also failed to reflect in the petition as to what was the basis for him to claim that there has been a dereliction of duty on the part of the official respondents in curbing online gambling in the State of Andhra Pradesh. 3. The present petition has been filed apparently only for purposes of publicity without in the least furnishing the relevant particulars and details. ln this regard, it would be beneficial to refer to the Apex Court judgment in the --I--.-,r >coT --KIY~V 3 HCJ&RCJ W.P.(PIL) No.30 of 2025 case of state of uttaranchaI Vs. Balwant Singh ChaufaI1, wher&ln, It was held: "181. ........ (8) The Courts should also ensure that the petitions filed by busybodies for extraneous and ulterior motives must be discouraged by imposing exemplary costs or by adopting similar novel methods to curb frivolous petitions and the petitions filed for extraneous considerations." 4. ln BALCO Employees' Union (Regd.) Vs. Union of lndia2,the Apex Court held: "79. There is, in recent years, a feeling which is not without any foundation that public interest litigation is now tending to become publicity interest lit-IgatiOn Or Private interest litigation and has a tendency to be counterproductive." 5. ln Janata DaI Vs. H.S. Chowdary and others3, the Apex Court held: "110. ...., The busybodies, meddlesome interlopers, wayfarers or officious interveners having absolutely no public interest except for personal ga-In Or Pr-IVate Profit e-Ither for themselves or as proxy of others or for any other extraneous motivation or for glare of publicity break the queue muffling their faces by wear-lng the mask of public interest lit®IgatiOn, and get into the Courts by filing vexatious and frivolous petitions and thus criminally waste the valuable time of Courts and as result of which the queue standing outside the doors Of the Court never moves which piquant situation creates a frustration in the minds of the genuine litigants and resultantly they lose faith in the administration of ourjudicial system." 23 (2::22) 2 S8cc :3o3 (2O10) 3 SCC 402 4 HCJ&RCJ W.P.(PIL) No.30 of 2O25 6. ln Dattaraj Nathuji Thaware vs. state of Maharistra4,the Apex court further held that the petitI'OnS Of Such busybodies deserve tO be thrown out by rejection at the threshold, and in appropriate cases with exemplary costs. 7. Testing the facts of{he present case on the touchstone of the principles laI-d down in the aforementl'oned judgments, we have no doubt that this petI-tI®On has been, in fact, fI''ed not On account Of the interest of the public but only for purposes of getting publicity by asking the court to engage in a roving enquiry based upon speculative assertions and insuffl'cI'ent material. 8. Be that as l't may, we dismiss the present petition with costs of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fl'fty Thousand only) to be deposited wI-th the Andhra pradesh state Legal ServI-CeS Authority to be utilized for the benefit of children who suffer from visual and hearing impairment. costs to be deposited positively withI'n a Period Of two (2) weeks from today. consequently, connected miscellaneous applicatI-OnS, l'f any, sha" stand closed. (2005) 1 SCC590 //TRUE COPY// Sd/- K. TATA RAO DEPUTY REGISTRAR _JL .--.-- To, SECTION OFFICER EGi zz1 : Ir eb.ss:a:e6aorym'mAenrdcfiarFcpor;dpfesxh, sNt::er A:Pg.a!ecurt:tOari{ay{ , H6gp?:I 2T-r2a7ff?:54- Police Station, Malkapuram Village, Thullur Mandal, Guntur District - 522238. (By Special Messenger) 2. The Chief Secretary to Government, state ofAndhra Pradesh, Buildl'ng lSt floor AP secretariat, Velagupudi, Amaravati, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. 3. The Principal Secretary, (Home Department), State of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, Room No.136, Ground Floor, Building No.2, Velagupudi, Amaravati, Guntur. 4. The Secretary (Law and Legislature), State ofAndhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, Velagupudi, Amaravati, Guntur. 5. The Principal Secretary, (Revenue Department), State ofAndhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, Velagupudl', Andhra Pradesh. 6. The Director General of Police, Police Headquarters, Beside NH-16 Service Road, Mangalagiri Guntur. 7. The Section Officer, Court Officer's Section, High Court of Andhra Pradesh. 8. One CC to Sri Gundala Siva Prasada Reddy, Advocate [OPUC] I 9. Two cos to GP for General Administration, High Court ofAndhra Pradesh. [OUT] 10. Two CCs to GP for Home, High Court ofAndhra Pradesh. [OUT] ll -[ouT]Two CCs to GP for Revenue, High Court of Andhra Pradesh. 12. Two CCs to GP for Law and Legislature, High Court ofAndhra Pradesh. [OUT] 13.Two CD Copies RAM HIGH COURT DATED: 19/02/2025 ORDER WP(PIL)|No.30 of 2025 DISM[SS[NG THE WRIT PETITION (PIL) WITH COSTS