HEERA LAL VARMA Vs. COMMISSIONER KUMAUN MANDAL NAINITAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner, Heera Lal Verma, held a fire-arm licence, it being licence No. 35054, under the authority of which he acquired 588L gun No. Ya 20707. By means of a notice dated 10-11-1986, he was required to show cause as to why the said licence be not cancelled. The relevant portion of the notice as reproduced below, enlists in all five grounds for cancelling the licence issued to the petitioner. The petitioner put in reply to the allegations made in the aforesaid show cause notice and at the same time he deposited the fire arm in the Malkhana. In reply, the petitioner repudiated the allegations made in the show cause notice and stated that his son Rajendra Lal Varma was murdered by one Vikrarn Singh, a suspended Patwari and son-in-law of one Jagdish Singh Boara; that no enquiry whatsoever was held by the Sub Divisional Magistrate as alleged, and that he never misbehaved with the Sub Divisional Magistrate, namely A. S. Nayal, and on the contrary, it was alleged that Sri Nayal had been won over by Sri Jagdish Singh Boara, who claimed Sri Nayal as his relative. According to the petitioner, his son having been murdered, the fire-arm was practically necessary for the protection of his life and property. The petitioner ascribed the proceedings having been launched against him without any legitimate basis and born of reports which were tainted with mala fide.

(2.) Upon receipt of the reply, to the show cause notice, the District Magistrate rescinded the licence vide order dated 31-9-88. The relevant portion of the order is quoted below.

(3.) Aggrieved by the order terminating in the cancellation of the licence, the petitioner filed an appeal before the Commissioner, Kumaon Division Nainital and by order dated 20-12-1988, the Commissioner dismissed the appeal of the petitioner, giving rise to the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.