Paardarshita Public Welfare ... vs Union Of India & Ors
2015 Latest Caselaw 2542 Del

Citation : 2015 Latest Caselaw 2542 Del
Judgement Date : 25 March, 2015

Delhi High Court

Paardarshita Public Welfare ... vs Union Of India & Ors on 25 March, 2015

$~17
*    IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+      W.P.(C) 8957/2014

       PAARDARSHITA PUBLIC WELFARE
       FOUNDATION (NGO)                             ..... Petitioner
                    Through: Mr. Harkrishan Das Nijhawan,
                             Secretary of petitioner appearing in
                             person.

                                Versus

       UNION OF INDIA & ORS                                ..... Respondents
                     Through:          Mr. Sanjay Jain, ASG with Mr.
                                       Rajesh Gogna, CSGC with Mr.
                                       Sameer Sharma and Mr. Akash
                                       Nagar, Advs. for R-1&2.
                                       Ms. Zubeda Begum, Adv. for R-
                                       3/GNCTD.
CORAM:
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SAHAI ENDLAW
                         ORDER

% 25.03.2015

1. This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India was filed

in public interest with respect to the practice stated to be prevalent of, the

Delhi Police registering with itself arms licences of All India validity got

issued by the residents of Delhi from the North Eastern States, without even

verifying the arms licence had in fact been issued by the North Eastern

States or not. It was pleaded that the Secretary of the petitioner through the

medium of Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) had learnt that as in

December, 2014, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Licensing), Delhi

had registered with him, 34 such arms licences issued in Nagaland, 12 in

Sikkim, 12 in Assam, 7 in Manipur, 8 in Mizoram, 2 in Meghalaya, 2 in

Tripura and 6 in Arunachal Pradesh. It was further pleaded that only, upon

offences being committed, the arms licences purportedly issued by North

Eastern States and registered in Delhi, are found to be fake. Reliefs of,

seizure of all such illegal arms and action against persons concerned and

investigation into the said racket and putting into place a mechanism to stop

such a practice in future, were claimed in the petition.

2. The petition was entertained and Union of India (UOI) as well as

Govt. of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) directed to file their response.

3. The Delhi Police in its counter affidavit, besides pleading the doubtful

antecedent of Mr. Harkrishan Das Nijhawan, who as Secretary of the

petitioner has filed this petition, has stated that as per Rule 62(3) & (4) of

the Arms Rules, 1962, if a person who holds an arms licence changes his

place of residence, permanently or temporarily for more than thirty

consecutive days, and carries with him the weapon concerned with the

licence, to a place other than that indicated in the licence, he is required to

intimate about such change to the Licensing Authority of his new residence

as well as to the Authority which granted the licence or last renewed it and

the Licensing Authority of his new residence shall make an endorsement on

the licence and where upon the licence shall be deemed to have been

transferred to the jurisdiction of the Licensing Authority of the new place of

the holder of such arm licence. It is further pleaded that before registration /

renewal of such licences in Delhi, verification regarding genuineness of the

licence from the concerned issuing Licensing Authority are sought and the

antecedents of the holder of the licence also checked. It is further pleaded

that whenever any aberration is found necessary, legal action under the

Arms Act is taken.

4. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Govt. of India in its counter

affidavit has pleaded:

(i) that it is very serious about illegal licences being issued in

different States, whenever illegal / fake arms licences are issued in

any State, Central Agencies are asked to submit report on the issue

and based on the report, the Central Government takes necessary steps

to check such illegal activity;

(ii) that directives / notifications are also issued to the State

Governments from time to time to take preventive / punitive measures

in this regard;

(iii) that the Central Government had already cancelled 352 PB

(Prohibited Bore) licences issued by Nagaland, by a Notification

dated 7th April, 2011;

(iv) that the Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs) is in

the process of bringing about amendments to certain sections of Arms

Act, 1959 by way of introducing a provision for severe punishment

for illegal licensing and illegal possession of firearms;

(v) that the MHA has developed and launched National Data Base

of Arms Licences (NDAL) as an e-portal to collect and monitor the

data of arms licences in the country being issued by the States / Union

Territories (UTs) and the Central Government;

(vi) that a Notification dated 24th July, 2012 has been issued

directing all the Licensing Authorities to enter data of all arms

licences being issued or being renewed for generating a Unique

Identification Number (UIN) without which no arms licence shall be

considered as valid with effect from 1st October, 2015;

(vii) that particulars of the data entered by the State Governments /

UTs in the NDAL upto 12th January, 2015 have been given;

(viii) that NDAL will provide online real time information to MHA

and other authorized agencies of all categories of licences under the

Arms Act;

(ix) that NDAL will regulate the grant of licences across the country

by Licensing Authorities;

(x) that tracing of arms in any crime will be made easier for the

investigating agencies under the NDAL;

(xi) that provisions for making online application shall also bring

transparency in operations and provide uniformity in procedures

across the country;

(xii) that availability of data of all the stakeholders under the Arms

Act will enable fast monitoring and decision making for policy

formulations;

(xiii) that all information about the type of arms, name of the holder,

address, period of validity will be available with the MHA and NDAL

will prove as an important milestone in curbing illegal arms licences

in the country;

(xiv) that after the completion of first phase of NDAL by October,

2015, second phase will include online submission of application

forms for arm licences.

5. The learned ASG today in Court also assures that the grievance

flagging which this petition was filed stands addressed with the conception

of NDAL and the first phase whereof will be operational by 1 st October,

2015. It is stated that owing to the particulars of arms licences issued all

over the country being available on NDAL, the possibility of a person say in

Delhi, registering a firearm on the basis of a fake licence issued in another

State and highlighting which issue this petition was filed, will be totally

eliminated. The learned ASG further assures that there would be no

possibility of a licence not issued by the authorized Licensing Authority

finding its way on the NDAL.

6. We are satisfied with the steps taken by the UOI and are confident

that the first phase of NDAL will be fully functional by 1st October, 2015.