- (1.) Heard learned counsel for petitioners, Sri J.K. Khanna, learned standing counsel for the State and Sri B.N. Singh, learned counsel for Election Commission of India in the respective petitions.
(2.) Considering the urgency in the matter and subject to consent of learned counsels for the parties, all the petitions are being disposed of at the stage of admission itself. Director General, U.P. Police, has been impleaded as respondent no. 4 with the leave of the Court. 1. Come Parliamentary / Assembly elections, this Court is flooded with several writ petitions on behalf of arms licensee alleging that police officials are threatening them to deposit their fire-arms and / or are publishing notices by way of news items in local dailes asking them to do so. This has become a routine phenomena. 2. The grievance of petitioners is that in the absence of any power to insist for a deposit of fire-arms under the Arms Act, 1959 (for short "the Act") and the Rules framed therein, no power is vested in police authorities to call upon licensees to do so even on the ground of ensuing Parliamentary elections. It is further submitted that power, if any, is to proceed against an individual licensee on a case-to-case basis either under the Act or under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. In support of their contention, learned counsel for petitioners places reliance upon the judgments of Division Bench of this Court in Mohd. Arif Khan v. District Magistrate,1994 12 LCD 193 and that of Uma Kant Yadav v. State of U.P. and others, 2007 3 ADJ 434.
(3.) Sri Khanna, learned standing counsel submits that respondents are complying with mandate of law as held in the aforesaid judgments and that petitioners are put to strict proof that police authorities are acting contrary to the dicta of aforesaid judgments. He placed before the Court a compilation of the Model Code issued by the Election Commission of India, a copy of a notice issued by Officer In-charge, P.S. Mohammadabad, Mau to one Sanjay Kumar Singh, holder of licence no. HPM 21736 in connected Writ Petition No. 17030 of 2014, directing the licensee to deposit his arm at the police station concerned or the dealer; the directives of Election Commission of India on the subject and the minutes of the meeting chaired by District Magistrate, Allahabad on 18.3.2014 in connection with deposit of fire-arms. The aforesaid compilation is taken on record.;