Brij Bhushan Verma vs District Magistrate, Ambedkar Nagar and another

Rajiv Sharma, J.

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

It has been stated by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the pistol licence has been issued by the competent authority to the petitioner in the month of September, 1980 and in pursuance thereof, he has purchased a pistol, which was numbered as 655/PII/Sept. 1980. The said licence was valid for the period of three years and thereafter, the petitioner has submitted an application for renewal of the pistol before the competent authority in district Faizabad. As the records were not traceable in the office of the Collector since 1984 and as such, under the order of the competent authority, the petitioner has deposited the requisite fees but in spite of that the licence of the petitioner was not renewed though he continuously as and when he was required deposited the fees in the treasury at Faizabad. In the year 1995, district Amedkar Nagar was carved out from the district Faizabad and as the petitioner was the resident of Amedkar Nagar, he was required to get his licence renewal from the competent authority in district Amedkar Nagar. He again moved an application to the same effect to the competent authority at Amebedkar Nagar and the authorities at Ambedkar Nagar showed inability for giving the pistol licence as the records were not traceable since 1984 from the office of the Collector at Faizabad and the records were not available in spite of the best efforts. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid action of the authority concerned, the petitioner has filed the instant writ petition with the relief that licence of the said pistol be renewed in favour of the petitioner, expeditiously.

In para 10 of the counteraffidavit, it has been stated that as the records have not been transferred to the district Ambedkar Nagar, the district authorities are not in a position to renew the licence to the petitioner.

Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of finally with a direction to the District Magistrate, Ambedkar Nagar to decide his application, in accordance with law, within six months from the date of presentation of a certified copy of this order, in case the petitioner files a fresh application before him.