Karnataka High Court.
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Bengaluru: The high court of Karnataka held that when an application under Rule 25 of the Arms Rules, 2016 is made, during the lifetime of the licensee, so long as the licensee is aged more than 70 years or has been holding the firearm licence for more than 25 years, he can nominate any of his legal heirs for transfer of licence and there will be no requirement for the transferee to establish that there is any threat to life. Justice Suraj Govindaraj said this while allowing the petition filed by Michael Mahesh Chris Saldanha from Mangaluru.
The petitioner, a Commander/Pilot in profession, had applied for a grant of arms licence in terms of Rule 25 of the Arms Rules. His father Placid Saldanha owned a valid arms licence for a .32 caliber revolver. The application was rejected on the ground that there is no life threat to the petitioner. The petitioner’s appeal against this order was allowed. However, on July 24, 2025, again an endorsement was issued stating that the arms licence could not be issued since there is no life threat established by the petitioner.
Challenging this before the high court, the petitioner contended that the application was filed under Rule 25 of the Arms Rules and not on account of there being any life threat to him. It was further submitted that in terms of Rule 25, any person can transfer an arm to his legal heir on attaining 70 years or on holding firearm for 25 years, whichever is earlier, and insofar as those aspects being satisfied, there is no requirement for establishing threat to life.
The court noted that in terms of clause (a) of Rule 25 (1) of the Arms Rule, the legal heir would be entitled to transfer the licence on the death of the licensee. Clause (b) of Rule 25 (1) provides for in any other case, when the licensee on attaining the age of 70 years or on holding the firearm for 25 years, whichever is earlier, the licensing authority may grant the licence to any legal heir nominated by him, the court said.“
In the present case, the petitioner's father is 75-year-old and he has been holding a licence from 1971 that is for a period of almost 54 years. Thus, the dual conditions under Clause (b) of Rule 25 (1) of the Arms Rule being satisfied, what is only required under the proviso is that the other conditions are satisfied and there are no adverse remarks in the police report as regards the legal heir,” Justice Suraj Govindaraj said, further observing that the petitioner does not hold any other licence. The court directed the authorities to issue a licence to the petitioner within a period of four weeks.