Srinagar: Directing all District Magistrates (DMs) in the state against issuing fresh arms licenses, Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered Divisional Commissioners to verify all cases of issuance of arms licenses in the past.
State Home Secretary R K Goyal, in an order under title, “revocation of individual arms licenses issued under arms act 2016” issued on July 12, which was released to press late Saturday night, directed the Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir and Jammu regions to verify all the cases of individual arms licenses.
The order further said all districts magistrates of state have also been ordered not to issue fresh licenses.
The order by Home secretary was issued taking cognisance of various media, CID as well as ATS and SOG, Rajasthan reports about indiscriminate issuance of arms licenses in between January 1, 2017 to February 23, 2018.
“There have been a number of instances of unearthing of fake gun licensing gun rackets reported in media and under investigation through various investigating agencies particularly anti-terror squad and SOG of Rajashtan and Jaipur,” reads the government order.
The order further said, “It has been observed that the issues related to the grant of individual arms licenses in J&K have an implication on security and public peace, “the order states. “No fresh individual arms license should be issued by the district magistrates of J&K.
Citing reasons for rolling back the individual arms licenses issued under arms act 2016, the order reads, “There were inputs from CID of J&K police with regard to issuance of very large number of individual arms licenses in certain districts of the state. Accordingly, an inquiry was ordered by the home department on April 4, 2017 through K B Agarval financial commissioner to J&K government.The district magistrates of J&K shall take urgent steps to revoke all such individual arms licenses issued to various persons excluding the persons belonging to the police, army and central forces”.
The government order said that the ministry of Home affairs had also reported indiscriminate issuance of arms licenses within the state with specific references to certain districts. “The Home department after taking the suo-motu cognisance based on data/details generated from national data base for arms licenses prima facie revealed indiscriminate issuance of arms licenses in some districts of the state from January 2017 to February 23, 2018,” the order added.
