Sant Bahadur Singh v. State of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home Lko. and Others

Court No. - 6 Case :- WRIT - C No. - 3012 of 2022 Petitioner :- Sant Bahadur Singh Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru. Secy. Home Lko. And Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Arjun Singh Kalhans Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Alok Mathur,J.

¶1Heard Sri Arjun Singh Kalhans, learned counsel for petitioner as well as learned Standing Counsel for respondents.

¶2By means of the present writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 01.03.2021 passed by District Magistrate, Gonda/Respondent No. 3 whereby he has cancelled the arms license of the petitioner in exercise of powers under Section 17 of the Arms Act, 1959 and also assailed the order dated 23.02.2022 passed by Commissioner, Devi Patan Mandal, Gonda/respondent No. 2 rejecting the appeal of the petitioner against the order of cancellation of arms license.

¶3It has been submitted by learned counsel for petitioner that petitioner had applied for grant of an arms license in 2009 and has submitted that during the entire period he had never misused his arms. It is stated that a first information report was lodged against the petitioner being Case Crime No. 265/2015, U/S 147, 148, 149, 323, 307, 504, 506 I.P.C. and 7 Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932, P.S. Paraspur, District Gonda. It is stated that there was no specific allegation against the petitioner but there was general and vague allegations against 40 persons who were named accused in the said case. Merely on account of registration of first information report, a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner by the District Magistrate on

26.10.2020 asking him to show cause as to why his arms license should not be cancelled considering the fact that he has misused his arms license and also that a criminal case has been registered against him and there is likelihood of his misuse of the arms license in future.

¶4The petitioner denied the allegations levelled in the show cause notice and submitted that allegations are politically motivated and are false and the same is due to political rivalry in the village between petitioner and the complaints. He has further submitted that in the said first information report, there was no allegation with regard to misuse of the weapon by the petitioner and only vague and general allegations were levelled against all the accused. The District Magistrate considering the response filed by the petitioner held that he was not satisfied with the same and also relied upon the police report wherein the lodging of the first information report against the petitioner was confirmed and in exercise of powers under Section 17(3)(b) and 17(3)(c) of the Arms Act cancelled the arms license of the petitioner.

¶5The petitioner being aggrieved by the order of cancellation had filed an appeal before the Commissioner, Devi Patan Mandal Gonda which was also rejected by the order dated

23.02.2022 confirming the findings recorded by the District Magistrate and also stating that a criminal case has been lodged against the petitioner and also considering the fact that proceedings under Section 107/116 of the Cr.P.C. has also been initiated against the petitioner and hence recorded his satisfaction with regard to conditions existing under Section 17 of the Act of 1959 and rejected his appeal.

¶6Learned counsel for petitioner while assailing both the orders have submitted that merely on account of pendency of criminal case the arms license of the petitioner could not have been cancelled. He further submits that there is no allegation that the petitioner has misused his arms license and consequently submitted that there were no condition existing as required under Section 17 of the Act of 1959 and submitted that the order is illegal and arbitrary and beyond jurisdiction.

¶7He has further relied upon the judgments of this Court wherein it has been held that mere pendency of the criminal cases or apprehension of misuse of arms is not a sufficient ground for passing of order of cancellation of the arms license.

¶8In support of his submission, learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on the judgments passed by this Court in the cases of Ram Murti Madhukar vs. District Magistrate, Sitapur [1998 (16) LCD-905], Ram Karpal Singh vs. Commissioner, Devi Patan Mandal, Gonda and Ors. [2006 (24) LCD 114] and Ram Prasad vs. Commissioner and Ors. decided on 07.02.2020 in Writ-C No. 56378 of 2006, wherein it has been held that mere pendency of criminal case or apprehension of misuse of arms are not sufficient grounds for passing the order of suspension or revocation of licence under Section 17 of the Act.

¶9In Ram Murti Madhukar (supra), this Court has held in paragraph no. 8, is quoted as under :- "(8) It is also well settled in law that mere pendency of criminal case or apprehension of abuse of Arms Act, are not sufficient ground for passing of the order of suspension or revocation of licence under Section 17 of the Act. A reference in this regard may be made to the decisions of this Court in Ganesh Chandra Bhatt v. D. M. Almora, AIR 1993 All 291"

¶10In the case of Ram Karpal Singh (supra), this Court has held as following in paragraph nos. 6 and 7 which are being reproduced hereunder:- '6, Learned counsel for the petitioner had relied upon the two judgments of this Court reported in 2002 ACC; Habib v. State of U.P.

¶7Para 3 of the said judgment is reproduced as under: "Para 3: The question as to whether mere involvement in a criminal case or pendency of a criminal case can be a ground for revocation of the license under Arrns Act, has been deal with by a Division Bench in this Court reported in Sheo Prasad Misra v. The District Magistrate, Basti and others, wherein the Division Bench relying upon the earlier decision reported in Mai Uddin v. Commissioner, Allahabad, found that mere involvement in criminal case cannot be in any way affect the public security or public interest and the order canceling or revoking the .licence of fire arm has been set aside. The present impugned order also suffers from the same infirmity as was pointed out by the Division Bench in the above mentioned cases. I am in full agreement with the view taken by the Division Bench that these orders cannot be sustained and deserve to be quashed and are hereby quashed.'

¶11This Court in the case of Ram Prasad (supra) has held as under. Relevant paragraphs of the said judgments i.e. 16,19,22,23,24,25,28,32 and 36 are being quoted hereunder:- "16. The matter which requires consideration is, whether on the ground of pendency of the criminal case the petitioner's fire arm licence could be cancelled and his appeal could be dismissed, notwithstanding his acquittal on 17.1.2003. It also requires consideration if the ground in the impugned orders that if the petitioner's fire arm licence remain with the petitioner, it would not be in the public interest and public security, are justified for cancellation and based on substantial material."

¶19In Masiuddin Vs. Commissioner, Allahabad Division, Allahabad and another reported in 1972 A.L.J. 573 this Court held in paragraph Nos. 4 and 7 as under: "4. After a license is granted, the right to hold the license and possess a gun is a valuable individual right in a free country. The security of public peace and public safety is a valuable social interest. Section 17 shows that Parliament had decided that neither of the two valuable interests should unduly impinge on the other Section 17 seeks to establish a fair equilibrium between the two contending interests. It says: Hear the licensee first; and then cancel the license "if necessary for the security of the public peace or for public safety". True, there is no express provision for hearing. But the nature of the right affected, the language of Sec. 17, the grounds for cancellation, the requirement of a reasoned order and the right of appeal plainly implicate a fair hearing procedure. Jai Narain Rai v. District Magistrate, Azamgarh. While cancelling a licence, the District Magistrate acts as a quasi-judicial authority.

¶7A license may be cancelled, inter alia on the ground that it is "necessary for the security of the public peace or for public safety" to do so. The District Magistrate has not recorded a finding that it was necessary for the security of the public peace or for public safety to revoke the license. The mere existence of enmity between a licensee and another person would not establish the ''necessary' connection with security of public peace or public safety. There should be something more than mere enmity. There should be some evidence of the provocative utterances of the licensee or of his suspicious movements or of his criminal designs and conspiracy in reinforcement of the evidence of enmity. It is not possible to give an exhaustive list of facts and circumstances from which an inference of threat to public security or public peace may be deduced. The District Magistrate will have to take a decision on the facts of each case. But in the instant case there is nothing in his order to indicate that it was necessary for the security of the public peace or for public safety to cancel the license of the petitioner. Mere enmity is not sufficient."

¶22In Chhanga Prasad Sahu Vs. State of U.P. and others reported in 1984 AWC 145 (FB), after noticing the provisions of Section 17 (3) of the Arms Act the Full Bench in paragraph 5 held as follows: "A perusal of abovementioned provisions indicates that the licensing authority has been given the power to suspend or revoe an arms licence only if any of the conditions mentioned in sub-clauses (a) to (e) of sub-section (3) of Section 17 of Act exists." sub section (5) of Section 17 makes it obligatory upon the licensing authority to, while passing the order revoking/suspending an arms licence, record in writing the reasons therefore and to, on demand, furnish a brief statement thereof to the holder of the license unless it considers that it will not be in the public interest to do so." In paragraph-9 it has been emphasised as under:- "it is true that in order to revoke/suspend an arms licence, the licensing authority has necessarily to come to the conclusion that the facts justifying revocation/suspension of licence mentioned in grounds (a) to (e) of section 17 exist"

¶23In Ilam Singh v. Commissioner, Meerut Division and others [1987 ALL. L.J. 416] this Court held that under Section 17(3)

(b) the licencing authority may suspend or revoke a licence if it becomes necessary for the security of public peace or public safety. In this case no report was lodged against the licensee indicating that he had used the gun in the incident which led to the breach of public peace or public safety. It was held that there must be some positive incident in which the petitioner participated and used his gun which led to breach of public peace or public safety and in the absence of the use of the gun by the licencee against the security of public peace or public safety the licence of the gun could not be suspended or revoked. The relevant paragraphs 4 and 5 of the judgment in Ilam Singh (supra) are being reproduced as under: "4. Having heard the learned counsel for the petitioner I am of the view that the submissions raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner cannot be said to be without substance. Section 17(3) (b) of the Arms Act enacts that licensing authority may by order in writing suspend a licence or revoke the same if it becomes necessary for the security of public peace or the public safety. When once a person has been granted a licence and he acquires a gun, it becomes one of his properties. In the present case no incident of breach of security of the public peace or public sfety at the behest of the petitioner has been pointed out. Even no report was lodged against the petitioner indicating that he used his gun in the incident which led to the breach of public peace or public safety. Even though some reports might have been lodged but that could not be said to be a sufficient reason to cancel the licence."

¶5There must be some positive incident in which the petitioner participated and used his gun which led to the breach of the public peace or public safety. In the absence of the use of the gun by the petitioner against the security of public peace or public safety the licence of the gun of the petitioner was not liable either to be suspended or revoked. The licensing authority as well as the Commissioner committed errors on the face of the record in cancelling the licence of the gun held by the petitioner in utter disregard of the provisions of Section 17

(3) (b) of the Arms Act. In view of these facts the impugned orders cannot be sustained and deserves to be quashed."

¶24In Habib v. State of U.P. and others [2002 (44) ACC 783] this Court held that mere involvement in a criminal case cannot in any way affect the public security or public interest and the order cancelling or revoking licence of fire arm was not justified. Paragraph 3 of this judgment reads as under: "3. The question as to whether mere involvement in a criminal case or pendency of a criminal case can be a ground for revocation of the licence under Arms Act, has been dealt with by a Division Bench of this court reported in Sheo Prasad Misra Vs. The District Magistrate, Basti and others, wherein the Division Bench relying upon the earlier decision reported in Masi Uddin v. Commissioner, Allahabad, found that mere involvement in criminal case cannot in any way affect the public security or public interest and the order cancelling or revoking the licence of fire arm has been set aside."

¶25In Satish Singh v. District Magistrate, Sultanpur 2009 (4) ADJ 33 (LB), this Court elaborately explained what is detrimental to the security of the public peace or public safety and held that mere involvement in criminal case cannot in any way affect the public security or public interest. Paragraphs 6 and 7 of Satish Singh case (supra) are being reproduced as under: "6. A plain reading of section 17 indicates that the arms licence can be cancelled or suspended on the ground that the licensing authority deems it necessary for security of the public peace or the public safety. In the present case, while passing the impugned order, neither the District Magistrate nor the appellate authority has recorded the finding as to how and under what circumstance, the possession of arms licence by the petitioner, is detrimental to the public peace or the public security and safety. Merely because criminal case is pending more so, does not seem to attract the provisions of section 17 of the Arms Act. To attract the provisions of section 17 of the Arms Act with regard to public peace, security and safety it shall always be incumbent on the authorities to record a finding that how, under what circumstances and what manner, the possession of arms licence shall be detrimental to public peace, safety and security. In absence of such finding merely on the ground that a criminal case is pending without any mitigating circumstances with regard to endanger of public peace, safety and security, the provisions contained under Section 17 of the Arms Act, shall not satisfy.

¶7Needless to say that right to life and liberty are guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and the arms licences are granted for personal safety and security after due inquiry by the authorities in accordance with the provisions contained in Arms Act, 1959. The provisions of section 17 of the Arms Act with regard to suspension or cancellation of arms licence cannot be invoked lightly in an arbitrary manner. The provisions contained under Section 17 of the Arms Act should be construed strictly and not liberally. The conditions provided therein, should be satisfied by the authorities before proceeding ahead to cancel or suspend an arms licence. We may take notice of the fact that any reason whatsoever, the crime rate is raising day by day. The Government is not in a position to provide security to each and every person individually. Right to possess arms is statutory right but right to life and liberty is fundamental guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Corollary to it, it is citizen's right to possess firearms for their personal safety to save their family from miscreants. It is often said that ordinarily in a civilised society, only civilised persons require arms licence for their safety and security and not the criminals. Of course, in case the government feels that arms licence are abused for oblique motive or criminal activities, then appropriate measures may be adopted to check such mal-practice. But arms licence should not be suspended in a routine manner mechanically, without application of mind and keeping in view the letter and spirit of Section 17 of the Arms Act."

¶28In Thakur Prasad Vs. State of U.P. and others reported 2013(31) LCD 1460 (LB) this Court after referring to the earlier pronouncements in the case of Ram Murli Madhukar Vs. District Magistrate, Sitapur [1998 (16) LCD 905] and Habib Vs. State of U.P., 2002 ACC 783, held in paragraphs 10 and 11 as follows: "10. "Public peace" or ''public safety" do not mean ordinary disturbance of law and order public safety means safety of the public at large and not safety of few persons only and before passing of the order of cancellation of arm license as per Section 17 (3) of the Act the Licensing Authority is under an obligation to apply his mind to the question as to whether there was eminent danger to public peace and safety involved in the case in view of the judgment given by this court in the case of Ram Murli Madhukar v. District Magistrate, Sitapur [1998 916) LCD 905], wherein it has been held that license can not be suspended or revoked on the ground of public interest (Jan-hit) merely on the registration of an F.I.R. and pendency of a criminal case."

¶11Further, this Court in the case of Habib v. State of U.P. 2002 ACC 783 held as under: "The question as to whether mere Involvement in a criminal case or pendency of a criminal case can be a ground for revocation of the licence under Arms Act, has been dealt with by a Division Bench of this Court in Sheo prasad Misra Vs. District Magistrate, Basti and Others, 1978 AWC 122, wherein the Division Bench relying upon the earlier decision in Masi Uddin Vs. Commissioner, Allahabad, 1972 ALJ 573, found that mere involvement in criminal case cannot, in any way, affect the public security or public interest and the order cancelling or revoking the licence of fire arm has been set aside. The present impugned orders also suffer from the same infirmity as was pointed out by the Division Bench in the above mentioned cases. I am in full agreement with the view taken by the Division Bench that these orders cannot be sustained and deserves to be quashed and are hereby quashed. There is yet another reason that during the pendency of the present writ petition, the petitioner has been acquitted from the aforesaid criminal case and at present there is neither any case pending, nor any conviction has been attributed to the petitioner, as is evident from Annexure SA-I and II to the supplementary affidavit filed by the petitioner. In this view of the matter, the petitioner is entitled to have the fire-arm licence."

¶32In Ghanshyam Gupta v. State of U.P. and others [2016 (34) LCD 3035] this Court has again held that the necessary ingredients to invoke jurisdiction of the licencing authority in terms of Section 17 were clearly lacking and no finding had been returned on the basis of materials produced in that regard by the licencing authority, which must justify passing of the order of cancellation. Paragraph 9 of the said judgment is being quoted as under: "9. In a recent decision of Lucknow Bench of this court in Surya Narain Mishra v. Stae of U.P. and others, reported in 2015 (7) ADJ 510, similar view has been taken by this Court relying upon subsequent decisions. Para-14 of the judgment is reproduced: "14. In the case of Raj Kumar Verma v. State of U.P., 2013 (80) ACC 231 this court in paragraph No.3 held as under:- "The ground for issue of show-cause notice, suspension and ultimately cancellation of the licence is that one and precisely one criminal case was registered against the petitioner. The District Magistrate has also held that the petitioner has been enlarged on bail. He has gone further to observe that if the licence remained intact, the petitioner, may disturb public peace and tranquility. The same findings have been given by the Commissioner, Unmindful of the fact that this Court is repeating the law of the land, but the deaf ears of the administrative officers do not ready to succumb the law of the land. The settled law is that mere involvement in a criminal case without any finding that involvement in such criminal case shall be detrimental to public peace and tranqulity shall not create the ground for the cancellation of Armed Licence. In Ram Suchi v. Commissioner, Devipatan Division reported in 2004 (22) LCD 1643, it was held that this law was relied upon in Balram Singh Vs. Satate of U.P. 2006 (24) LCD 1359. Mere apprehension without substance is simply an opinion which has no legs to stand. Personal whims are not allowed to be reflected while acting as a public servant.

¶36In the present case the petitioner's licence was cancelled by the District Magistrate on the ground of pendency of criminal case against him. The petitioner was later on acquitted of the criminal case by order dated 17.1.2003. A perusal of the order of acquittal does not show the use of fire arm. After acquittal the very basis of the order of cancellation vanished. The finding of the District Magistrate as affirmed by the Commissioner, that it was not in the interest of public peace and the public security that the licence remained with the petitioner/licencee, is not based on any evidence/material, except the police reports which in their turn were in view of the pendency of the criminal case against the petitioner. On mere apprehension expressed in the impugned orders that the petitioner would misuse the fire arm and would extend threat to the persons of the weaker section of the society, the arm licence could not be cancelled"

¶12On the other hand, learned Standing Counsel has submitted that the petitioner was involved in a heinous crime and a criminal case against him is still pending and revival of arm license may disturb the public peace or safety.

¶13After hearing learned counsel for the parties, going through the records and judgments relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the position which emerges out in the present case is that the suspension and revocation of arm license of the petitioner was made in Janhit, due to pendency of criminal case against the petitioner and on the apprehension of misuse of arm which may endanger the public peace and safety. None of the aforesaid grounds in pursuance of which, the impugned orders were passed against the petitioner is in consonance with the Section 17 of the Act, 1959. Mere involvement in a criminal case or pendency of a criminal case cannot be in any way affect the public safety or public peace. In such case, the licensee if had participated in some incident using the gun or there may be some reasonable apprehension substantiated by facts or circumstances that he may endanger the public peace or safety, only in such circumstances Section 17 of the Act, 1959 may be attracted, which is not the case here. 14 Possession of the arm license by the petitioner, is detrimental to the public peace or the public security and safety merely because criminal case is pending, does not seem to attract the provisions of Section 17 of the Act, 1959. Public peace or public safety does not mean ordinary disturbance of law and order, public safety means safety of the public at large and not safety of few persons only and before passing of the order of cancellation of arm license as per Section 17 (3) of the Act, 1959, the licensing authority is under an obligation to apply his mind which is not present in the instant case. 15 For the foregoing reasons, the orders impugned herein cancelling and revoking the arms license of the petitioner are not justified and not tenable in law and hence the order dated 01.03.2021

passed

by

District

Magistrate, Gonda/Respondent No. 3 and the order dated 23.02.2022 passed by Commissioner, Devi Patan Mandal, Gonda/respondent No. 2 are hereby quashed.

¶16In view of the aforesaid, the writ petition is allowed. (Alok Mathur, J.) Order Date :- 21.2.2024 Ravi/ High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench