C.M.P. No. 7676 of 1951 is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to issue a writ of mandamus directing the District Magistrate, Cuddapah to issue a licence applied for by the petitioner for the, possession of a single barrel cartridge Gun No. 12 Bore (S.B.B.L.). C.M.P. No. 7677 of 1951 is an application by the same party for issue of a writ of certiorari to call for the records of the District Magistrate, Cuddapah and to quash his order, dated 9th March, 1951. The petitioner is a citizen of the Indian Union residing in the village of Anantharjupet, Kodur firka, Cuddapah district. It is stated in the affidavit that both on the eastern and southern side of the village, where his lands are situated, there are reserve forests and also unreserved forests and that these forests are infested by wild animals of various types like deer, stag, sambur, wild pigs, cheetahs, bears and tigers. As those animals cause considerable destruction of food crops and of cattle, the petitioner applied on 2nd January, 1951, to the respondent for a licence for a single barrel cartridge Gun No. 12 Bore (S.B.B.L.) for the purpose of hunting and the protection of crops from wi