The Allahabad High Court has said that the authorities cannot pass a general order for deposit of firearms ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The High Court said so in the context of the recently-issued instructions by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for deposit of licensed arms in certain cases to ensure maintenance of law and order during the electons.
The Court was told in pursuance of the ECI instructions, the Chief Election Officer in Uttar Pradesh has ordered setting up of a committee headed by the District Magistrate for verification of the arms licences and their deposit.
“Even if the said committee has been formed, some cogent reasons should emerge from the order of the screening committee as to why it is essential for the fire arms to be deposited and there cannot be general order for deposit of fire arms,” the High Court said; according to Bar&Bench.
The Court was dealing with a petition related to the deposit of firearms.
The High Court also issued a warning that in case any further petitions against such non-reasoned orders come before it, it may be compelled to impose exemplary cost on the authorities. It, however, clarified that authorities can order licence holders to deposit firearms in case valid reasons exist.
“Needless to mention that in case the authority has valid reasons requiring the license holder to deposit his fire arm then it would always be open for the competent authority to pass a specific order in this regard being uninfluenced by any of the observations made above,” the Court said.
