Court No. - 55
Case :- SPECIAL APPEAL No. - 1189 of 2012 Appellant :- Shambhu Saran Agrawal Respondent :- State Of U.P. And Anr. Counsel for Appellant :- Durvijay Singh Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Vikram Nath,J. Hon'ble Pankaj Bhatia,J.
Heard Sri Durvijay Singh, learned counsel for the appellant and Sri Ghanshyam Dwivedi, learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
The appellant possesses a fire arm license for revolver bearing License No. 2900/2613, Police Station Kaimganj, District Farrukhabad. This license was granted in the year 1993. The appellant had accordingly purchased the revolver bearing no. 92689, which was incorporated in the license. During the period of Election, the appellant and other license holders were required to deposit their firearm either with the police station concerned or with the registered firearm dealer. The appellant deposited his firearm weapon with the M/s Shyam Chandra Arm Store, Police Station Kaimganj, Bazar Kaimganj. A theft took place at the said arm store and about 18 weapons were stolen including that of the appellant. This theft had taken place in 1995. Since then the appellant has applied to seek permission to purchase a new weapon and he also given an undertaking that in case his stolen weapon is recovered, he would surrender the new weapon. He has also deposited the requisite fees for the same. It is also the case of the appellant that he has continuously being getting his license renewed from time to time, but the same is without registered weapon since the theft took place. When no action was taken, the appellant approached the Writ Court by way of Writ-C No. 27002 of 2012 and the same was dismissed on technical ground, vide order dated 29th May, 2012, aggrieved, the appellant is before us.
An innocuous prayer has been made by the learned counsel for the appellant that the applicant's request for purchase of new weapon should be considered by the District Magistrate, which is a competent authority under the provisions of the Arms Act, 1959 to deal with such issue. He submitted that it is the discretion of the licensing authority whether or not to grant permission to purchase a fresh firearm but for the reasons to be recorded, otherwise the request of the appellant appears to be reasonable that for no fault his weapon has been stolen from store of a registered firearm dealer and despite having a license, he cannot keep a weapon for his safety and security.
Considering the aforesaid facts and circumstances, we dispose of the special appeal as also the writ petition with a direction to the District Magistrate, Farrukhabad that in case the appellant submits a fresh application along with a certified copy of this order seeking permission to purchase a new weapon, the same may be considered strictly in accordance to law and after due verification of such facts may be disposed of within a period of six weeks from the date of its submission. The decision may be communicated to the appellant within the next one week. It goes without saying that the District Magistrate will get all necessary enquiries made from the concerned police station about the antecedent of the appellant as also about the outcome of the criminal investigation in respect of the theft of the firearm from the Shyam Chandra Arm Store.
Order Date :- 30.7.2019 SR [Pankaj Bhatia, J.] [Vikram Nath, J.]