Allahabad High Court says authorities cannot issue general order for deposit of firearms citing Lok Sabha polls

The Allahabad High Court recently said that the authorities cannot pass a general order for deposit of firearms ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections [Ravi Shankar Tiwari And 4 Others vs State Of UP]..Justice Abdul Moin made the comment 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 polls.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.While placing reliance on High Court's earlier decisions where it was held that the State government cannot compel citizens with valid firearms licences to deposit their firearms merely on the basis of elections, the Court said,“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 Court was dealing with a petition related to the deposit of firearms. In its order dated March 22, the Court noted that the petitioner's case was fully covered under the directions issued earlier by the High Court.However, the Court also highlighted that the matters pertaining to the authorities compelling the licence holders to deposit their firearms, in view of the impending elections, were repeatedly coming to the court..It said that more than two decades have lapsed since the directions against it were issued yet petitions were being filed against the orders of authorities asking licence holders to deposit their firearms without communication of any reasons for it.“It clearly emerges that despite the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary, Home, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow having been required to issue appropriate directions to all the subordinate authorities for adhering to the judgement of this Court pertaining to the issue of deposit of fire arms during the election period no heed has been paid to the same,” the Court said. .It emphasised that the judgments passed by the highest court of the State are binding on all authorities but were being conveniently overlooked. The matters which can be sorted out at the level of the local authorities, are engaging the attention of the High Court Court again and again which itself reflects the lackadaisical approach of the authorities, the single-judge said..The judgements which have been passed by the highest court of state under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and are binding on all the authorities in the State are being conveniently overlooked and are not being followed.Allahabad High Court.Thus, the Court 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..The Court directed that the order be sent to the State Chief Secretary and Director General of Police within 24 hours for appropriate action.Advocate Chandra Bhanu Singh represented the petitioner.Advocate Vijay Vikram Singh represented a respondent. [Read Judgment]