Arms Act, 1959
Section 13—Rejection of application for arms license—Application of principles of natural justice—Submission of lack of opportunity for the oral hearing—Right to possess firearm is a privilege—It is well settled that there are no inflexible rules of natural justice of universal application—Rules of natural justice vary with varying constitutions of statutory bodies and rules prescribed by legislature under which they have to act—An authority or body need not observe rules of natural justice where its decision, although final, relates to grant of licence—An application for a grant of licence to carry an arm is neither a right to such grant nor a reasonable expectation that such a grant would be made in his favour—In refusing to grant a licence, the Collector is not obliged to act judicially—Order refusing a licence under Section 13 of the Arms Act is administrative—There is no link between the Collector, and the person who refused such privilege—Since the refusal to grant a licence to petitioner has no civil consequences, it is not necessary that opportunity of an oral hearing needs to be provided to the petitioner—No relevant factors have been considered by authorities below in passing the impugned orders—Impugned orders are set aside and matter remanded back to second respondent for a decision afresh.
[Paras 9, 11, 14 & 15]