Ankit Chaturvedi vs State of U.P. and 2 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Ankit Chaturvedi vs State of U.P. and 2 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Writ petition disposed of with direction to respondent no. 2 (District Magistrate Mahoba/Arms Licensing Authority Mahoba) to decide petitioner's pending arms licence application within two months from production of certified copy of the order, failing which petitioner entitled to cost/compensation @ Rs.100/- per day of delay payable by respondent no. 2 and recoverable from the salary of erring officials, in addition to other legal remedies.

Issue for consideration

Whether the licencing authority (Respondent No. 2, District Magistrate Mahoba/Arms Licensing Authority Mahoba) should decide the petitioner's pending application dated 01.02.2023 (File No. 03/2023) for grant of arms licence on the ground of succession, within a time bound period.

Court's answer

Considering the circumstances and the fact that the application for grant of arms licence is pending before respondent no. 2, the Court directed that the application shall be decided by the licencing authority within a period of two months from the date of production of certified copy of the order.

Ratio / Principle

If the arms licence application is not disposed of within the granted two-month period, the petitioner would be entitled to cost/compensation @ Rs.100/- per day for each day of delay, to be paid by respondent no. 2 at the first instance and recoverable by respondent no. 2 from the salary of the erring officials; this cost/compensation is in addition to other legal remedies available to the petitioner including enforcement of the order in accordance with law.

Key takeaways

Observation: the large number of petitions being filed before the Court for directing licencing authorities to consider arms licence applications indicates that licencing authorities are not considering such applications in a time bound manner, which may be indicative of red tapism, negligence or corrupt practices.obiter¶10
General observation: applications of citizens are required to be considered by the authorities in a time bound manner so that citizens do not face any difficulty on account of pendency of their applications.obiter¶11

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Allahabad High Court (Court No. 33), single bench of Hon'ble Vikram D. Chauhan, J. [Neutral Citation 2025:AHC:19544; WRIT - C No. - 3820 of 2025; decided 11.2.2025] — Writ petition by Ankit Chaturvedi seeking a mandamus directing Respondent No. 2 (District Magistrate Mahoba/Arms Licensing Authority Mahoba) to decide his application dated 01.02.2023 (File No. 03/2023) pending since 2023 for grant of Arms License D.B.B.L. Gun No. A/4001/v-74(12 Bore), Licence No. 6307/IIIC/PS Panwadi, standing in the name of his late grandfather Babulal, on the ground of succession as grandson. Observing that numerous such petitions indicate licencing authorities are not processing arms licence applications time-bound and that this may indicate red tapism, negligence or corrupt practices, and noting learned Standing Counsel's submission that the application would be decided in a time bound manner, the Court directed disposal of the application within two months from production of certified copy of the order, failing which petitioner to receive cost/compensation @ Rs.100/- per day of delay payable by Respondent No. 2 at first instance and recoverable from the salaries of erring officials, in addition to other legal remedies including enforcement of the order. Writ petition disposed of. No statute or precedent cited in the judgment.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:19544

Court No. - 33

Case :- WRIT - C No. - 3820 of 2025

Petitioner :- Ankit Chaturvedi Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Dev Prakash Sharma,Pradeep Kumar Pandey,Priyanka Devi Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.

Hon'ble Vikram D. Chauhan,J.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel for the respondent-State.

The writ petition has been filed with the following prayer :-

" A. To issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the Respondent No. 2 i.e. District Magistrate Mahoba/Arms Licensing Authority Mahoba to decide the application dated 01.02.2023 (file No. 03/2023) for issuing Arms License D.B.B.L. Gun No. A/4001/v-74(12 Bore) having License No. 6307/IIIC/PS Panwadi in the name of late Grandfather of the petitioner namely Babulal be granted in the favor of the petitioner on the ground of succession as grandson of his late grandfather namely Babulal S/o Balram R/o Village Ripnaul Police Station Panwadi District Mahoba has been died be decided expeditiously within stipulated period as fixed by this Hon'ble Court, in the interest of justice. "

It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner has applied for grant of arms licence before the respondent no. 2 in the year 2023, however, till date the aforesaid application of the petitioner has not been decided by the concerned authority.

It is to be seen that before this Court large number of petitions are being filed for directing the licencing authorities to consider the application for grant of arms licence of the applicants. The aforesaid large number of petitions are indicative of the fact that licencing authorities are not considering the applications for grant of arms licence in a time bound manner. The same may be indicative of red tapism, negligence or corrupt practices. The applications of the citizens are required to be considered by the

authorities in a time bound manner so that citizens do not face any difficulty on account of pendency of their applications.

Learned Standing Counsel submits that application of the petitioner for grant of arms licence would be decided in a time bound manner.

Considering the circumstances of the case and the fact that application of the petitioner for grant of arms licence is pending consideration before the respondent no. 2, it is hereby directed that application for grant of arms licence of the petitioner shall be decided by the licencing authority within a period of two months from the date of production of certified copy of this order. It is hereby also provided that in the event the aforesaid application of the petitioner for grant of arms licence is not disposed of within the period herein above granted, the petitioner would be entitled to cost/compensation @ Rs.100/- per day (for each day delay after two months) which is to be paid by the respondent no. 2 at the first instance and the same would be recoverable by the respondent no. 2 from the salary of the erring officials. This cost/compensation is in addition to the other legal remedies available to the petitioner including the enforcement of the present order, accordance with law.

With the aforesaid observation/direction, the writ petition is disposed of.

Order Date :- 11.2.2025 VMA

Digitally signed by :- VISHWA MOHAN ARORA High Court of Judicature at Allahabad