SHIVUBHA MADHUBHA CHAUHAN vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

C/SCA/14979/2018 ORDER IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 14979 of 2018 ================================================================ SHIVUBHA MADHUBHA CHAUHAN Versus STATE OF GUJARAT & 1 other(s) ================================================================ Appearance: MR ISHAN MIHIR PATEL(6508) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1 MR SAHIL TRIVEDI, AGP for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2 ================================================================ CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.Y. KOGJE

Date : 01/08/2019

ORAL ORDER 1. This petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging order dated 13.08.2018 passed by the Joint Secretary, Home Department (Appeals) in Arms Appeal No.544 of 2015, whereby order dated 03.08.2015 passed by the District Magistrate, Kutch-Bhuj came to be confirmed. The subject matter pertains to the grant of firearm license which came to be rejected by the impugned orders. 2. Learned Advocate for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner is a contractor and works for PGVCL. The petitioner also possesses agriculture land at village Shiracha. It is submitted that for payment to labour and other suppliers, he has to travel with huge amount of cash. It is submitted that the petitioner has to travel Page 1 of 5

C/SCA/14979/2018 ORDER up to 20 kms to reach to ATM for cash withdrawal. It is submitted that the petitioner stays at Shiracha village, where several Chinese labourers and other refugee persons reside and they work for two major companies viz. Tata Power and Adani's plants. It is submitted that due to formation of colonies for these labours, crime rate in the area has also increased. It is submitted that looking to the nature of business of the petitioner, there is all likelihood of the petitioner getting robbed or some untoward incident happening to the petitioner and therefore, for self-defence, firearm licence was applied for. It is submitted that Shiracha Gram Panchayat has also issued certificate to support the claim of the petitioner. 2.1 It is submitted that earlier also, the petitioner had made application for firearm licence, which was rejected by the District Magistrate vide order dated 21.05.2012. Against the said order, the petitioner had filed appeal before the Home Department. The said appeal was partly allowed vide order dated 24.02.2015 and the matter was remanded back to licence issuing authority for reconsideration. 2.2 It is submitted that that the rejection of the firearm license is based on irrelevant consideration as the firearm application license came to be refused on the Page 2 of 5

C/SCA/14979/2018 ORDER ground that looking to law and order situation, there is negative opinion from DSP, Kutch(West); that there is facility of on-line banking and payment can also be made through cheque; that the petitioner can also avail police protection or can deploy security gunman and that looking to attacks on people belonging to lower strata of society, the firearm licence cannot be granted. It was also observed that looking to income tax return of the petitioner for the year 2013-14, his annual income appears to be only Rs.4,70,236/-. 3. Learned AGP opposes the grant of petition contending that when the authorities have found that looking to law and order situation, there is negative opinion from DSP, Kutch(West), there is facility of on- line banking and payment can also be made through cheque and that the petitioner can also avail police protection or can deploy security gunman, this petition should not be entertained. 4. Having considered the rival submissions of the parties and having perused the documents on record, it appears that the petitioner had made an application for firearm license before the License Issuing Authority i.e. District Magistrate, Kutch-Bhuj. The order passed by the License Issuing Authority dated 03.08.2015 would indicate that the application of licence is rejected on the ground Page 3 of 5

C/SCA/14979/2018 ORDER that looking to law and order situation, there is negative opinion from DSP, Kutch(West); that there is facility of on-line banking and payment can also be made through cheque; that the petitioner can also avail police protection or can deploy security gunman and that looking to attacks on people belonging to lower strata of society, the firearm licence cannot be granted. Other than this, there are no reasons mentioned in the order of the licence issuing authority. Consequentially, order dated 13.08.2018 passed by the Joint Secretary, Home Department in Arms Appeal No.554 of 2015 also reiterates the findings given by the License Issuing Authority. 5. Moreover, the petitioner also possesses knowledge of operating the firearm licence and there is also positive opinion from Shiracha Gram Panchayat. It also appears that the petitioner is never involved in any kind of criminal activities. Nothing is on record to indicate that such negative opinions were brought to the notice of the petitioner to enable him to deal with it. 6. In view of the aforesaid, order dated 13.08.2018 passed by the Joint Secretary, Home Department (Appeals) in Arms Appeal No.544 of 2015 and order dated 03.08.2015 passed by the District Magistrate, Kutch-Bhuj are quashed and set aside. It is open for the petitioner to make a fresh application with necessary documents to Page 4 of 5

C/SCA/14979/2018 ORDER the License Issuing Authority within period of two weeks from today. The District Magistrate shall consider such application afresh, in accordance with law and after granting an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner within period of two months therefrom. 7. With the aforesaid, the petition stands disposed of. Direct service is permitted. (A.Y. KOGJE, J) SHITOLE Page 5 of 5