Kodagu: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) questioning the exemption to Kodavas and Jamma land holders in Kodagu district from obtaining a license to possess firearms under Section 3 and 4 of the Indian Arms Act, 1959, was filed recently by a petitioner.
However, the Karnataka High Court (HC) on Thursday October 1, asked the petitioner to approach the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
A Division Bench of the HC, comprising of Acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B.V. Nagarathna, asked the petitioner, Y.K. Chethan of Bengaluru, to submit a representation on his grievance about exemption to the MHA within two weeks.
The Bench also asked the Secretary, MHA, to dispose of the representation within three months.
As per a notification issued on July 6, 1963, under the Arms Act, “every person of Coorg race (Kodavas) and every Jamma tenure holder in Coorg” is exempted from securing license for possessing firearms.
Claiming that the continuation of the exemption, granted to some class of persons by the British government in pre-independent India in furtherance of their divide-and-rule policy, was unconstitutional, as it was based on irrational, fictitious and discriminatory grounds, such as race and ancestral land tenure, it was contended in the petition.
(With inputs from agencies)
