- (1.) By this petition, the petitioner, Ramji Singh, has prayed for quashing the order dated 11-10-1991, passed by the District Magistrate, Ghazipur, by which the petitioner's Arms Licence No. 1046/80 for a single Barrel gun bearing number 8897 war suspended and he was called Upon to show cause also within 15 days from the date of the order as to why his licence may not be cancelled. Instead of showing any cause to the aforesaid notice, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition.
(2.) Despite sufficient time having been granted, no counter affidavit has been filed by the respondent in this case. The learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel were heard at length at the stage of admission and the record of the case was perused.
(3.) The only submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner was that under the Arms Act there is no provision for suspending the arms licence pending enquiry regarding cancellation/suspension of the licence. Reliance was placed on a Division Bench decision of this Court in the case of Raghuvir Sahai v. District Magistrate, Jhansi 1986 All WC 1074 : (1986 All LJ 1442). In this case it was held - "If the District Magistrate was, on the material that had been placed before him satisfied that it was necessary for the security of public peace or public safety to revoke or suspend the, petitioners' licence for any specified period, it was open to him to pass such an order straightway. However, if he chose to suspend the licences only pending on enquiry and before being fully satisfied on the material brought on the record that it was necessary to revoke or suspend the licence in order to secure public peace and safety, he would certainly have no jurisdiction to suspend the petitioner's licence pending such an enquiry." Relying on a Full Bench decision of five Judges in the case of Kailash Nath v. State of U.P., 1985 All WC 493 , it was argued on behalf of the State that the licensing authority can for the furtherance of his immediate remedial action exercise the incidental power of suspending the licence during the period of enquiry.;