The High Court disposed of the Public Interest Litigation challenging the cultivation of exotic African Catfish. Noting the State Government's counter-affidavit detailing raids, destruction of ponds, and legal action taken, the Court held no further orders were required.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OFTELANGANA:AT HYDERABAD (Special Original J urisdiction)
TUESDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF JANUARY TWO THOUSAND ANDTWENTY TWO
PRESENT
THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICESATISH CHANDRA SHARMA ANO
THE HON'BLE SRIJUSTICE ABHINAND KUMAR SHAVILI
WRIT PETITION(PlL) NO: 70 OF 20'16
Between:
...PETITtONERS
AND
...RESPONDENTS
Petition underArticle 226 of the constitutionof lndia praying that in the circumstancesstatedin the affidavit filed therewith, the HighCourt may be pleased- io irru" u Writ, Orderor direction more particularlyone in the natureof Writof l,4andamus
a) declaring the unauthorizedcultivation/ culture,seed production,marketing, transport, r,i"int"iningstocks(Live or Dead) of exotic Mangur& Big Head (Clarias Garipinus) commonly knownas Cat Fish in Gadwal, Dharoor,AlamPur,Kollapur, Itkyal, Wadepally, leejaand Atmakur Mandals of l'4ahabubnagar Distiict along with batk waters of PriyadarshiniJurala Project, Srisailam Projectand Krishnaand Thungabradra riversbelt, contraryto the banimposed by the Government of Andhra Praddsh vide.GO MS No. 54,Animal HusbandryDairyDevelopmentand Fisheries(Fish-ll) Department, dt 04.10.2005as illegal, arbitrary, capricious, and violation of the Governmentpolicy
b). and consequentiallydirecttherespondentsto destroy/demolishthe African cat fish cultureponds inGadwal,Dharoor ,Alampur,Kollapur ltkyal, Wadepally, leeja and Atmakur lvlandals of MahabubhagarDistrictalong with back waters of Priyadarshini JuralaPro.lect, Srisailam Projectdid Krishna and Tungabhadrarivers belt.
wP{PlLlMP. NO: 130 OF 2016
Petition under Section151 CPC prayingthat in thecircumstancesstated in the affidavit filed in supportof thepetition, the High Court may be pleased to direct the respondents to destroy/demolishthe African Cat fish culture ponds in Gadwal, Dharoor, Alampur, Kollapur ltkyal,Wadepally, leeja and AtmakurMandalsof Mahabubnagar Oistrict along withback waters of Priyadarshini JuralaPro.iect, Srisailam Project andKrishna and Thungabradrarivers belt.
Counsel for the Petitioners: SRI RAVI SHANKARJANDHYALA
Counsel for the RespondentNos.1to 4: GP FOR FISHERIES
Counset for the RespondentNos.S& 7: GP FOR REVENUE
Counsel for the RespondentNos.6,8to 16:ADVOCATE GENERAL/GPFOR HOME
The Court made the following:ORDER
THE HON 'BLETHEC TICE TISH C RA AND TIIE HON'BLE SRI JUS CE ABIIIN
WRIT PETITION(PIL) No.7O of 2016
ORDER:(l\th.)HatbletLrcChrel'tuslic€ sal'shChandraSh6'tmo)
Thepetitioners before this Court has fiied this public interestIitigation stating that there is an illegal breeding ofCatfish and the farmers are feeding animal \r,aste to theCatfish,which is verymuch injurious to the h ealt h
The StateGovernmenthas llled a counteraffidavit in the matterand it has been statedthat the African Catfish iscreating ecologicalimbalance lthas been further statedthat effortshave been made to close down all suchprivate African Catfish culture ponds identiiied by the Departmentand they are alsodestroyingthe said ponds. Theyhave also lodged complaintswith the Poiice in respectof suchpondsand pond owners Paragraphs5 to 7 of t}-re saidcounter affidavitread as under:-
-5. lt is further submitted that'adverseimpact of African Catlishon ecologicalbalance and culturein unhl'gieniccondition, the Fisheries Department official uillr sltltporrol Revenucand Policestaff were usedto conrlltclsr.lrprlscritlds'Jrlr'iodicailv'The sincereeiforts u,r:rc Inrtdclrr these clcpartmcntaiofficials irl thc light ol(i.O.i'Is.No.54ol 2OO5 to cLirbthe AfricanCatfish Culrurettrrclnlarketingin the clistrict' tt is submitted'-
I
that, raid conducted atThimmapur, Shaikpally, Sasanol, Kondair andMunagala Villages of ItikyLl Mandal and Berol, Lathipurvillages of Gadwal mandal and Khammampadvillage ofDharoormandal frequently. Catfltsh CulturePonds identifiedin these villages and pond bundsbreachedB'ith JCB, water removed, Catfish caught with netand buriedin the pits. Complaints lodged in Police stationol Itikyal, Gadwal and Dharoor againstculturists. Accordir.rglv, the Police Department filedcases against the culturisls and also AlricanCatlishtransportil.]u vehicles seized and cases filed agairrsLrcspor.tsiblc
persons. The details as shown belou:
Raid Conducted on AfricanCatfrshCulturePonds
and Cases Booked Particulars from2O11 to 2O15
| \4andal | No,of Cases |
No.ol ponds |
Qtt..,1 Crrl)sh i,::l.a |
Qry.Of Catfish Seed |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 201I | Cadrval, irrk\ al, N4anopad, Utkur, Dharoor |
:'. :l |
I7,10 | |||
| 2A1) | Maganoor, Gadu,al |
o2 | lrr | r.00 | iI,U(J | irt |
| 2013 | Itiklal, Gadwal, Makthal, Dharoor, Pebbair |
;tjLl | --+Lr | |||
| 2011 | itikyal, Gadwal, Makthal |
3.i | 300 | ;a.50 | ||
| 2015 | Itihal. Cad$,a1. Dharoor |
01 | l: | 800 | 1r, |
concernecl.Accordinglv,the PoliceDepartmentliled cascs agaittsL thccLtlturists. Thedetails are as shorvn in table iormat.
CATFISHPONDS&CATFISH DESTROYED PARTICULARSIN 2016
| D.Lre | Villagc | t4andal | No.of l ponas I Oa"rtor.d I |
Quan!i!y ofCatfish Deslroyed (inKgs) |
Quantity ofCatfish Seed Destroyed linLakhs) |
Not-rf Cases Booked Culturists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08.01.2016 | Thimma | Irikval | 4.80 | |||
| 09012016 | .'1Lrna | Irikval | a) | 6000 | fr | |
| .. 10.0r20l6 |
Itrkval | 2 | 3000 | 100 |
2 | |
2501.2016 |
Lalhr | Gadwai | 3 | 5.00 | ||
t9.jalrili |
Tirimm:1 | lL | I | 500 | I |
|
- ! |
\ir,n | Iok | l | L000 | 1.00 | 2 |
| : ., l607.20lt) |
lii..L-rnlJn all |
lrikyal lii Dharoor |
2000 | 0.50 t50 |
In the light ofthe action taken by the State Government foreradication of the African Catfish' no further ordersare required to be passed by this Court' However, infuture also the Departmentof Fisheries shall keep on monitoringthe situation in the State of Telanganain resPect of Catfish'
with the aloresaid,the pubiic interest litigation 'stancls disposed of. The miscellaneousapplications
pending, ifanY, shali stand closed'
There shallbe n<;
order asto costs.
'i;[i3Ti'^,]*t'EY[H (;l', ' //TRUECOPY// SECTiONOFFICER
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HIGH COURT
DATED:04/0112021
ORDER
WP(PIL).No.70 ot 2016
DrsPosrNG oF THE WP (PtL) WITHOUT COSTS
(-
LDL}=-
Radha Krishna Reddy
G. Raghavendra Reddy
The State of Telangana
The Commissioner of Fisheries
The Director, Department of Fisheries
The Assistant Director District Fisheries Office
Satish Chandra Sharma
Abhinand Kumar Shavili
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
