The High Court of Karnataka has said that the Deputy Commissioner, Kodagu, had acted “blatantly contrary to law” in keeping for nearly three years an application filed by a “renowned shooter”, who had sought permission under the Arms Act, 1959 to possess additional arms, even though the application should have been considered within seven days as per the law.
The court directed the Deputy Commissioner to decide the application within four weeks while holding that the petitioner, being a “renowned shooter” as per the definition of the Act, was entitled to possess 10 arms and up to one lakh ammunition/firearms as per the provisions of the Act and the Arms Rules, 1960.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order while allowing a petition filed by 54-year-old K. Sajan Aiyappa, a resident of Kolkeri village of Napoklu in Kodagu district.
The petitioner, being in the category of “renowned shooter” as per the Act due to his participation in national- and State-level shooting events, had sought permission to possess four more weapons and 25,000 ammunition in addition to three arms that he was already having.
The Deputy Commissioner, who had held on the petitioner’s application for nearly three years, had issued a notice to the petitioner seeking the score that he had secured to become a “renowned shooter”, only to drag his application further, the court observed.
Stating that the petitioner had all the relevant documents and certificate that brought him under the category of “renowned shooter” as per the law, the court said that the petitioner was entitled to possess 10 arms as a shooter, “renowned” in one event with prescribed minimum qualifying scores, was entitled to possess a total 10 arms (eight for shooting in exempted category and two as as normal citizen) and up to one lakh ammunition. A shooter “renowned” in two events with prescribed minimum score could possess up to a total 12 arms, including two as normal citizen, the court noted from the law.
As per the law, “renowned shooter” means a person, who has participated in a national shooting championship in an Open Men’s/Women’s event or Open Civilian’s Event whether through qualifying tournament or wild card entry conducted in accordance with the rules of International Shooting Sports Federation and has attained the minimum qualifying score prescribed by the National Rifle Association.
