- The Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh, in the case of Pawan Kumar Jain V. State Of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. has adjudicated that an order by the competent authorities to refuse the renewal of Arms license in lieu of registration of criminal case is erroneous and invalid under the Arms Act, 1959.
- The present writ petition arose from the order of Commissioner (Jabalpur M.P.), whereby he rejected the appeal against the order of authorities to deny the renewal of the arm's license of the petitioner.
- The petitioner had never violated any conditions of his Arm’s license in the past and had applied for renewal license under Section 15 of the Arms Act, which was rejected by stating ground of the criminal record of the petitioner.
- The learned counsel for the petitioner affirmed that a criminal case had been registered against the petitioner in the appropriate police station under various sections of IPC but It is not the case that either in the said crime or in any other incident, the petitioner has misused the Arm possessed.
- Relying on Dharampal Ramnarayan Agrawal Vs. State of Madhya Pradesh & anr. and other leading case laws decided by the Honorable Court itself, he submits that mere registration of a criminal case should not be a ground to deny the renewal of the arm's license of the petitioner.
- Learned counsel for the petitioner also enlightened the fact that even in the said criminal case, which were the basis for refusal to renew the license, the petitioner has already been acquitted by the competent court.
- It was further contended that no reason has been recorded by the competent authorities as to why such cases against the petitioner can be a basis for such refusal.
- The learned counsel for the respondents was of the view that it is at the discretion of the Licensing Authority whether to renew the license or not and such a discretion should not be obstructed by the Court’s decision and hence the Writ should be dismissed.
- The Court, headed By Hon'ble Shri Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, allowed the petition in light of section 14 of the arms act, which lays down the grounds pursuant to which the authorities can refuse the renewal of license and mandates such reason to be recorded. The petition can thus be allowed for want of such a reason.
- In the light of the case laws cited by the counsel for the petitioner the Learned Judge held that it cannot be implied from the provisions of renewal of license under Arms Act that the renewal can be refused on grounds outside of section 14 of the act. Although, on conviction of petitioner under such offences the refusal could have been tenable.
- Hence the impugned orders were set aside and the authorities were directed to reconsider the petitioner’s application for renewal of arms license in light of his acquittal from the criminal proceedings within three months from the present order.
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