Ghanshyam Singh vs Commissioner,Agra Division,Agra & Anr.

Anjani Kumar, J.—Petitioner aggrieved by an order passed by the licensing authority under the provisions of Arms Act cancelling the petitioner''s fire arm''s licence for rifle on the ground that the petitioner since is involved in a criminal case under Section 107/116 I.P.C. in which he has already been challaned, has approached this Court by means of this writ petition. Aggrieved thereby the petitioner preferred an appeal before the appellate authority, i.e., Commissioner, Agra Division, Agra. Appellate Authority also dismissed the appeal affirming the findings of the licensing authority.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that in view of the law laid down by this Court that mere involvement in a case or criminal case is not a ground for cancellation of firearm licence. Learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon several decisions of this Court in the case reported in 2002(2) AWC 1139; 2002(2) AWC 1184; 2002 (2) AWC 1080; 2002 (2) AWC 1067; 2002 (2) AWC 885; 2002 (2) AWC 945 and 2002(3) AWC 1802, for the purpose wherein this Court has taken the same view. In this view of the matter, the order impugned in the present writ petition deserves to be quashed and is hereby quashed.

In the result, the writ petition succeeds and is allowed. The order passed by the licensing authority as well as the appellate authority dated 1281983 and 1061985, Annexures''1'' and ''2'' to the writ petition, are quashed. The petitioner is entitled for renewal of his licence, if there is no legal impediment.