Hon’ble Tarun Agarwala, J.—The petitioner’s father held an arms licence. He died in the year 2004. The petitioner, being the son applied for an arms licence as an heir. The weapon was deposited with an arms dealer. The petitioner’s application remained pending since 2004. Since no action was taken, the petitioner was forced to file writ petition No. 21915 of 2013 and, during the pendency of the writ petition, the authorities issued an order sanctioning an arms licence to the petitioner. The writ petition was, accordingly, disposed of as having become infructuous.

2. Armed with the licence, the petitioner approached the arms dealer to collect the weapon but, to his dismay, the dealer informed that the weapon was lost. The petitioner, accordingly, filed an application on 6.8.2013 before the District Magistrate intimating him about the loss of the weapon at the hands of the dealer and requested that he should exercise his powers and take action against the dealer or lodge a first information report about the loss of the weapon.

3. Since no action was taken by the District Magistrate, the present writ petition was filed for a writ of mandamus commanding the District Magistrate