Akash Sharma Vs State of U.P. and Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Akash Sharma Vs State of U.P. and Another — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Direction to the licencing authority (respondent no.2) to decide the petitioner's arms licence application within two months from the date of production of certified copy of the order; entitlement to cost/compensation of Rs. 100/- per day for each day of delay beyond that period, payable by respondent no.2 at the first instance and recoverable from the salary of erring officials, in addition to other legal remedies.

Issue for consideration

Whether respondent no.2 should be directed, by way of mandamus, to decide the petitioner's firearms (revolver/pistol) licence application dated 25.5.2022 within a specific period fixed by the Court.

Court's answer

The licencing authority (respondent no.2) shall decide the petitioner's application for grant of arms licence within a period of two months from the date of production of certified copy of this order.

Ratio / Principle

In the event the arms licence application is not disposed of within the granted period, the petitioner would be entitled to cost/compensation @ Rs. 100/- per day for each day of delay after two months, 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 the other legal remedies available to the petitioner, including enforcement of the order in accordance with law.

Key takeaways

Observation (in passing): large numbers of petitions being filed to direct licensing authorities to consider arms licence applications indicate that such authorities are not deciding applications in a time-bound manner, which may be indicative of red-tapism, negligence or corrupt practices; applications of citizens are required to be considered by the authorities in a time-bound manner.obiter¶10

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

WRIT - C No. 6858 of 2025 (High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Hon'ble Vikram D. Chauhan, J., order dated 7.3.2025) - Akash Sharma v. State of U.P. and Another. The petitioner's application dated 25.5.2022 for grant of a revolver/pistol arms licence had remained undecided before respondent no.2 since 2022. The Court directed the licencing authority to decide the application within two months from the date of production of a certified copy of the order; failing disposal within that period, the petitioner would be entitled to cost/compensation @ Rs. 100/- per day of delay, to be paid by respondent no.2 at the first instance and recoverable by it from the salary of the erring officials, in addition to the petitioner's other legal remedies including enforcement of the order in accordance with law. Observing that numerous similar petitions indicate that licensing authorities are not deciding arms licence applications in a time-bound manner, the Court noted this may be indicative of red-tapism, negligence or corrupt practices, and that citizens' applications must be considered time-bound. Writ petition disposed of with the aforesaid observation/direction.

Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:33060

Court No. - 33

Case :- WRIT - C No. - 6858 of 2025

Petitioner :- Akash Sharma Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Ajay Tripathi,Surya Prakash Pandey Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.

Hon'ble Vikram D. Chauhan,J.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned Standing Counsel.

The writ petition is filed with the following prayer:

"A. issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent no.2 to decide the fire arms application dated25.5.2022 for grant of REVALVER/PISTOL license of petitioner, within specific period a may be fixed by this Hon'ble Court."

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 2022, 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, 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 :- 7.3.2025 Bhaskar

Digitally signed by :- BHASKAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad