Arms licensing law to become stricter

[Avnish Jolly]

Arms licensing law to become stricter
http://igovernment.in/site/arms-licensing-law-become-stricter-37998

Now, the licensing authority in no case can grant an arms licence
without a police verification report
Published on 07/15/2010 - 11:34:08 AM
New Delhi: The cabinet on Thursday approved amendments to an over 40-
year-old law to ensure that arms licences are only issued to those who
genuinely need them.

The Arms (Amendment) Bill will now be tabled in Parliament to amend
the Arms Act of 1959 to "obviate chances of issuing arms licences to
persons whose antecedents are not bonafide, and ensure receipt of
police verification report within a period of sixty days," an official
statement said.

"The licensing authority will be obliged to take into consideration
the report of the police authorities before grant of an arms licence
in each case," the statement added.

This will remove a provision in the Act under which the licensing
authority can grant an arms licence where the report of the police has
not been received within the prescribed time.

However, as the prescribed time "has not been specifically defined" in
Act, "this has led to grant of an arms licence to a person whose
antecedents may not be clear", the statement said.

"Considering the importance of the police verification report in the
grant of arms licences to any person, it has been decided to delete
this provision of the Arms Act and prescribe a period of 60 days for
the police authorities to send their report, reports IANS.

"This will obviate chances of discretion being used by the licensing
authority to issue any arms licence without police verification
report," the statement added.