Prayagraj (UP), Jun 4 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court has set aside the Deoria district magistrate's order that denied an arms licence to a sportsman who had applied for it for training and competition purposes.
Justice Piyush Agrawal, in its decision on Monday, also remanded the matter to the DM for deciding afresh the application of the petitioner.
The petitioner, Gaurav Gupta, had filed a writ petition against the DM's May 3 order.
His counsel submitted that in an earlier order, the licensing authority rejected the application of the petitioner, highlighting some defects in the sports certificate he had furnished.
The certificate, the counsel said, was given to the petitioner as a junior shooter, and since the petitioner's category of shooting is not well defined and no affidavit concerning it has been filed, he was refused the arms licence as per Arms Rules, 2016.
The counsel said the petitioner was not granted any opportunity to cure the defect.
He argued that since the petitioner is slated to participate in the pre-Uttar Pradesh state shooting championship competition in July, he stands to be disqualified in the absence of a firearm licence.
The ground on which the application of the petitioner has been rejected can be cured, the counsel then asserted.
On the other hand, the state's counsel submitted that since the petitioner failed to provide the necessary documentary evidence in support of his application, his request has rightly been rejected.
After hearing the parties, the court observed that there exists no column in the application that specifies the petitioner's status as a 'Junior Shooter'.
"In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case as stated, the impugned order dated May 3, 2025, cannot be justified in the eyes of law and the same is hereby set aside," it said, setting aside the order.
Allahabad HC sets aside DM's order of denial of arms licence to sportsman
PTI
Updated: June 05, 2025 00:54 IST
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
