District Magistrate of a district can revoke arms license issued by District Magistrate of another district: Gauhati High Court

A firearm license issued under the Arms Act by a District Magistrate (DM) of a district can be suspended or revoked by a District Magistrate of another district, the Gauhati High Court ruled on Monday (Lokam Nai v. State of Arunachal Pradesh)..The Itanagar Bench of the High Court clarified that the power to revoke or suspend a firearm license is not confined to the DM of the particular district from whom the license was obtained.District Magistrate as the ‘licensing authority’ under Section 17 of Arms Act has the power to cancel arms licenses in any district, Justice Robin Phukan said."There is nothing in the provisions of the Arms Act and the Arms Rules, which may restrict the power of revocation or suspension in the same authority who has granted the arm license. Being the ‘licensing authority’, under Section 17 of the Arms Act District Magistrate of one district can cancel/suspend license issued by District Magistrate of another district," the Court held.The judgment was delivered on a plea in which an accused under the Arms Act sought to set aside a Judicial Magistrate's order rejecting his plea for discharge. The accused, who had obtained firearm license from Lower Subansiri district, was arrested under the Arms Act while carrying a pistol and heading to vote for the panchayat elections at his native district, Koloriang Kurung Kumey. The arrest was made since the district administration at Koloriang had issued an order three days prior to surrender all arms at police stations on account of the polls.The petitioner moved the judicial magistrate to quash police proceedings against him, alleging that there was an abuse of judicial process and that his arrest under the Arms Act was not sustainable in law. The plea for discharge was rejected leading to the present petition before the High Court.Justice Robin Phukan at the outset noted that a "cursory perusal of the FIR discloses a prima-facie case against the accused under Section 25 (1B) (h) Arms Act. Hence, the Judge said that it cannot be an abuse of the process of the court.Therefore, the only issue left to be decided in the petition was whether the DM of one district can act on, that is cancel or revoke, licenses of other districts. The contention of the petitioner was that the DM of another district has no power to cancel the arms license by DM of a different district.However, the State opposed the same contending that every DM, without restrictions, throughout the country is a ‘licensing authority’ under the Arms Act and the power to cancel or revoke the license is vested with a competent authority who may be from any district.The Court found merit and recorded its concurrence with the submissions and case laws presented by the Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) T Jini who appeared on behalf of the State. It, therefore, dismissed the appeal.[Read Judgment]