Johney Thomas vs State Of Kerala

N.Nagaresh, J

The writ petition is filed by the petitioner aggrieved by the direction issued to deposit the licensed arms held by the petitioner prior to the impending Lok Sabha Elections, 2024 without any specific reasons.

The petitioner submits that the licence is issued for protection of life and crops. Once deposited, the same could be reclaimed only after the declaration of the results which would come only after a span of at least two months. Such deposit would destroy the very purpose of issuance of the valid arms licence.

The 6th respondent-Election Commission of India has issued guidelines to be complied with, prior to directing a valid arms licence holder to deposit his arms during the period of elections by way of Ext.P3. However, in the case of the petitioner, no procedures laid down thereunder have been followed while directing him to surrender his arms.

This Court has categorically held in Joseph K.A v. District Collector, Kottayam and others [2019 (1) KLT 1034] that in the context of depositing of weapons during the period of election, orders can be passed for such depositing only after complying with the clauses in Ext.P3 Circular.

The petitioner apprehends that depositing his validly held arms during such a long period will prevent him from protecting his life in the event he encounters any mishaps. The direction of the respondents to the petitioner demanding him to deposit his arms during the period of election dehors any legally tenable reason and dehors any finding to that effect by the Screening Committee, is untenable and is liable to be interfered with by this Court. Hence, the petitioner is before this Court.

Standing Counsel representing the Election Commissioner submitted that a Screening Committee has been constituted and the Screening Committee will be considering the issues in detail. However, if any licensee wants the arms to be retained during the election period, such licensees are entitled to seek exemption from the orders of the Government and Election Commission.

Taking into consideration the facts of the case, I am of the view that the detailed consideration of the legal issues placed by the counsel for the petitioner may render the matter infructuous. For the time being, it will be sufficient that the petitioner submits an application for exemption before the Screening Committee.

The writ petition is accordingly disposed of permitting the petitioner to approach the Screening Committee seeking exemption from surrendering of the arms. If the petitioner submits an application within two days, the Screening Committee shall pass appropriate orders and the petitioner should not be directed to surrender the arms before the Screening Committee takes a decision in the matter.