Question raised:

1. Whether a Lawyer who has to hold law books can be allowed to hold a Revolver for his protection and whether the licensing authority's power to refuse a licence in his favour was justified? are the questions to be decided in this writ petition.

2. Before proceeding with the issue on hand, it is necessary to recapitulate the role of a member of the Bar in the society as set out by the Supreme Court in O.P. Sharma v. High Court of Punjab and Haryana reported in(2011) 6 SCC 86. In paragraphs 17 and 20, the Supreme Court had observed as follows:

Present state of the Bar:

"17.) The role and status of lawyers at the beginning of sovereign and democratic India is accounted as extremely vital in deciding that the nation's administration was to be governed by the rule of law. They were considered intellectuals amongst the elites of the country and social activists amongst the downtrodden. These include the names of a galaxy of lawyers like Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, C. Rajagopalachari, Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, to name a few. The role of lawyers in the framing of the Constitution needs no special mention. In