The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday ordered issue of notice to the State and Union governments on a PIL petition questioning the 2019 notification of granting exemption to Kodavas and Jamma land holders in Kodagu district from the requirement to obtain a licence to carry and possess firearms as required under provisions of the Indian Arms Act, 1959.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order on a PIL petition filed by Capt. Chethan Y.K., who retired from short service commission of Indian Army. The petitioner has questioned the constitutional validity of the notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs extending the exemption for “every person of Coorg race and every Jamma tenure land holder in Coorg” from gun licence till October 31, 2029.
It has been contended that the Union government in the latest notification of October 2019 has not “in letter and spirit reviewed or reconsidered” its 1966 notification of granting exemption from obtaining gun licence indefinitely but has only restricted the period of exemption for 10 years, that is, till October 31, 2029 despite certain observations made by the High Court in earlier proceedings.
The classification, “every person of Coorg race and every Jamma tenure holder in Coorg” is not based on any intelligible or, even, real factors and such classification is not necessitated by the objectives of the Arms Act of 1959, and this classification and use of term ‘Coorg race’ promotes discrimination between the citizens of Coorg region on the ground of caste, violating Article 15 of the Constitution, the petitioner has contended.
By granting exemption under the impugned notification, the petitioner has claimed, the MHA has made away with the scrutiny of persons before granting licence in respect of the persons belonging to the ‘Coorg race’, and this itself is not only derogatory to the citizens of the entire nation other than the ‘Coorg race’ but also possess a threat to the life and liberty as the people exempted are permitted to hold arms and ammunition without any scrutiny of their antecedents or criminal records.
