Court No. - 33
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 41979 of 2015 Petitioner :- Ritesh Respondent :- State Of U.P. & Another Counsel for Petitioner :- N.S. Chahar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner; learned Standing Counsel for the respondents 1 and 2; and perused the record.
The petitioner held an arms licence to hold DBBL gun. Upon implication in Case Case No.134 of 2013, under Section 307 IPC, licence was placed under suspension and a show cause notice was issued. The petitioner claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case and that the licenced weapon was not used in the incident. However, the District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar (Licensing Authority), by impugned order dated 26.09.2014, proceeded to cancel the arms licence of the petitioner on account of his implication in the said case. Against the order of the Licensing Authority, the petitioner filed appeal under Section 18 of the Arms Act. During pendency of the appeal, the petitioner was honourably acquitted by order dated 18.03.2015 of the Additional Sessions Judge, Court No.1, Muzaffarnagar in S.T. No.713 of 2014, which arose from Case Crime No.134 of 2013 and a case was registered against PW-3 Satyendra for making false statement.
Relying upon his acquittal, the petitioner applied to the Commissioner, Saharanpur Division, Saharanpur, in the pending appeal, to allow the appeal on the ground that now there exists no material to sustain cancellation of the licence of the petitioner. The Commissioner, however, by order impugned dated 07.05.2015, dismissed the appeal by observing that on the ground of subsequent acquittal, the licence cancellation order cannot be declared bad in law.
Assailing the orders passed by the Licensing Authority and the appellate authority, the present petition has been filed.
The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that no other ground than the involvement of the petitioner in criminal case in Case Crime No.134 of 2013 was taken to cancel arms licence and since the petitioner has been honourably acquitted, there was no legal justification to maintain the licence cancellation order passed by the District Magistrate.
Learned Standing Counsel has sought to defend the impugned orders but he has not been able to demonstrate that there existed any other material than the implication of the petitioner in Case Case No.134 of 2013, in which the petitioner has already been acquitted, to cancel the licence.
Having considered the rival submissions, this Court is of the view that since the only ground taken to cancel the arms licence of the petitioner was the implication of the petitioner in Case Crime No.134 of 2013, and otherwise there was no material on record to suggest that the petitioner was not a fit person to hold an arms licence, subsequent acquittal of the petitioner in that case wiped out the basis of cancellation order. Therefore, as the appellate authority has all the powers that are with the Licensing Authority, the appellate authority ought to have taken notice of the acquittal order as extinguishment of ground on which the licence had been cancelled. As no further material has been shown on the basis of which the licence cancellation order could be sustained, this Court considers it appropriate to allow the writ petition. The licence cancellation order dated 26.09.2014 and the appellate order dated 07.05.2015 passed by the District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar and the Commissioner, Saharanpur Division, Saharanpur, respectively are hereby quashed. The petitioner is at liberty to apply for renewal of the arms licence, which shall be dealt with in accordance with law. It is clarified that if any other material is there to refuse renewal of the arms licence, then the Licensing Authority shall be free to pass appropriate order in accordance with law after recording reasons, preferably, within a period of two months from the date of filing the renewal application.
Order Date :- 30.4.2018 AKShukla/-