Election authorities must follow notice and Screening Committee procedure before impounding licensed arms during elections.

This intra-court appeal is filed by the petitioners in the writ petition aggrieved by the rejection of the request for return of licenced arms surrendered on oral instructions of respondent Nos.6 to

13.

2. Petitioners are holders of Arms licences issued under the Arms Act . They approached this Court aggrieved by the action of respondent Nos.6 to 13, requiring the petitioners to surrender their guns in connection with the upcoming Assembly Elections, 2026.

4. Ext.P3 is the consolidated instructions issued by the Election Commission of India which contain provisions relating to deposit of licenced arms. Clause (F) thereof provides the procedure to be followed while considering whether the Arms held by licenced persons are liable to be impounded or not. Admittedly, such procedure has not been complied with in the case of the petitioners.

5. We are of the opinion that, the District Collector of the respective Districts, who is the Chairman of the Screening Committee mentioned in Ext.P3, shall cause review and assessment as instructed in Ext.P3, after putting the petitioners on notice and decide whether the Arms are to be impounded or not.

In the light of the above, it is ordered that the petitioners shall be entitled to get back their licensed arms, which were surrendered to Arms and Ammunition dealers, as per the oral directions of respondent Nos.6 to 13. However, it is made clear that, it shall be open for respondent Nos.4 and 6 to conduct individual review and assessment of the necessity to impound the licenced arms from all or any of the petitioners, if they deem it necessary, after putting the respective petitioners on notice.

The writ petition is disposed of as above.