The refusal of a license under the Arms Act 1959 must comply with the statutory requirements, including recording reasons for refusal and considering the necessity for public safety.

1. The larger question that has been debated in this writ petition is whether the refusal of licence to the petitioner for a gun under S.14 (1) (b) (ii) of the Arms Act 1959 was justified or proper. After bearing Counsel, I am satisfied that without going into this larger question, this writ petition can well be disposed of on a shorter and narrower ground.

2. Ext. P1 is a copy of the petitioner's application for licence for a gun (pistol). It sets out the reasons why the petitioner felt it necessary to be in possession of a pistol. The application was rejected by Ex. P2 order, passed by the Special Secretary to Government, which reads:

"I am directed to invite your attention to the application cited and to inform you that your request for the grant of a licence to possess one pistol is hereby rejected on the ground that Government deem it necessary for public safety to refuse the grant of licence to you."

The petitioner complained that as a result of the disposal of the application by the Secretary to Government, the petitioner had been deprived of his right of appeal provided under S.18 of the Act, read with R.5 of the Rules framed thereunder. But this objection. I am afraid, is untenable. S.2 (f) of the Act defines a'licensing authority' as 'including the Government'. It is therefore clear that the Government can well be the licensing authority, and if, as such licensing authority, it proceeds to deal with the application for licence, the question whether any appeal would lie or not, must essentially depend upon the statutory provisions regulating and governing appeals. R.5 of the rules, which delineates the appellate authority against the orders of the licensing authority does not seem to provide for any appeal, in cases where an application for licence has been dealt with by the Government; and S.18 which provides for appeals, only enacts that appeals shall be governed and regulated in the manner prescribed by the rules. As pointed out in G. Raja Reddy v. Collector, Nizamabad (AIR. 1960 A.P. 384) the appeal is, after all, only a creature of the statute; and if the statute itself does not provide for any appeal in any particular case, the petitioner cannot make any grievance of the same. This objection of the petitioner is therefore groundless.

3. That takes me to the larger question agitated in this writ petition namely, that even in refusing an application or a licence on the ground that it was in the interest of the public, or public safety to grant one, the licensing authority was bound to observe the principles of natural justice and to afford an opportunity to the petitioner to make his representations before be was denied the licence sought for, on grounds which appeared to the licensing authority to render him unfit for the grant. The relevant statutory provisions in so far as they are material read thus:

14 (1) Notwithstanding anything in S.13, the licensing authority shall refuse to grant

(a) xxxxxxx

(b) a licence in any other case under Chapter II,

(i) x x x x

(ii) where the licensing authority deems it necessary for the security of the public peace or for public safety to refuse to grant such licence.

(3) Where the licensing authority refuses to grant a licence to any person it shall record in writing the reasons for such refusal and furnish to that person on demand a brief statement of the same unless in any case the licensing authority is of the opinion that it will not be in the public interest to furnish such statement."

The section itself does not expressly enjoin notice of the application or the affording of any opportunity before the refusal of the licence. But these were sought to be implied on the ground that the licensing authority had to function quasi judicially, which therefore, brought in these requirements as part of the rules of natural justice. My attention was drawn to a series of cases, where, in connection with applications for renewal of a licence, or for cancellation of a licence it had b