IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8283 of 2010 1. Ram Chandra Choudhary S/O Late Dashrath Chaoudhary R/O Kaima Shikoh, P.S. Chowk, Patna City & Distt- Patna Versus 1. The State Of Bihar through Home Secretary, Home (Police) Department Govt. of Bihar, Patna 2. District Magistrate Distt- Patna 3. District Arms Magistrate Patna 4. Additional District Magistrate (I/C, Arms, General) Patna --------------------- 2 17.11.2011 Heard Mr. Arvind Kumar Mouar learned counsel for the petitioner and Ms Parool Ranjan, learned A.C. to A.A.G.4 for the State. The petitioner is aggrieved by the action of the District Magistrate, Patna, the Licensing Authority under the Arms Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’) and the rules framed thereunder in not disposing of the application filed on behalf of the petitioner for grant of Arms Licence which was filed as back as on 18.08.2009 and has remained pending with the Licensing Authority until today. Facts of the case are in a very narrow compass. The petitioner is a licensee under the Arms Act having been granted licence by the Sub-Divisional Officer in respect of a DBBL gun bearing No. 3390-A/9 bearing Arms Licence No. 2/89. It is stated that by reason of an amendment incorporated under the Arms Act, the licences granted by the S.D.O. were cancelled and the licencees were required to deposit the arms and apply afresh for grant of arms licence. The petitioner acting pursuant to a communication 2 contained in Memo No. 175 dated 19.01.1998 of the Additional District Magistrate mentioning that the licence granted by the Sub- Divisional Officer, Patna City since after 24.01.1989 had been declared illegal, deposited his arms with M/s City Firearms. A copy of the receipt showing deposit of the DBBL gun by the petitioner is present at Annexure-2 to the writ petition. In view of the aforesaid development, the petitioner filed another application for grant of Arms Licence in respect of his DBBL Gun, in prescribed form-A under the Act on 18.08.2009 before the District Magistrate, Patna who also is the Licensing Authority under the Act. It is the complaint of the petitioner that since after filing of the application on 18.08.2009 and despite representations, his application has remained pending. Learned counsel with reference to the provisio to Section 13(2A) of the Act and the pronouncements of this Court since reported in 2008(2) PLJR 42 ( Abhimanyu Singh versus State of Bihar) submits that the act itself conceives of the situation in which the Licensing Authority would be well within his jurisdiction to dispose of the applications in circumstances where a police report is not received within the prescribed time. It is the contention of the petitioner that a period of one year is definitely more than the time prescribed under the Act and the District Magistrate cannot justify the delay in disposing of the application. 3 A counter affidavit has been filed today in course of the proceeding which has been sworn as back as on 17.08.2010. A stand had been taken that in absence of the police report the application has not been acted upon. Learned counsel for the petitioner has filed a supplementary affidavit bringing on record the report submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police vide letter No. 1854/C dated 23.12.2010 placed at Annexure-7 of the supplementary affidavit. He thus submits that it is rather strange that despite the report having been submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police as back as on 23.12.2010 and this matter having been taken up almost 11 months thereafter, no information have been provided to the learned counsel for the State as regarding the status of the application. Considering the circumstances and the fact that the police report has since been submitted by the Senior Superintendent of Police on 23.12.2010 there is no justification for the delay in disposal of the application of the petitioner, by the Licensing authority under the act. For the reason aforesaid, the writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the District Magistrate, Patna to dispose of the application of the petitioner within a period of 3 months from the date of receipt/production of a copy of this order. (Bibhash) (Jyoti Saran, J.)