PRAYAGRAJ, June 5 -- The Allahabad high court has set aside an order passed by the Deoria district magistrate denying an arms licence to sportsman Gaurav Gupta. The DM's order was passed on May 3. Gupta had applied for the licence for sports training and competition purposes. Justice Piyush Agrawal, in his decision dated June 2, also remanded the matter to the district magistrate for deciding afresh the application of the petitioner by passing a reasoned and speaking order, after giving due opportunity to the petitioner to cure the defect, if any, as well as to provide all the documentary evidence/material, as required under the aforesaid rules, within 15 days from the date of production of certified copy of this order. By means of the present writ petition, the petitioner had assailed the order dated May 3. Advocate Sayyed Kashif Abbas Rizvi, the counsel for the petitioner, submitted that in pursuance of the order dated February 27, 2025 of this court, the licencing authority rejected the application of the petitioner for the grant of an arms licence by holding some defects in the sports certificate attached by him. This certificate was given to the petitioner as a junior shooter, and as the petitioner's category of shooting was not defined well and no affidavit with regard to the same had been filed, therefore, as per Arms Rules, 2016, the arms licence to the petitioner could not be granted.He further submitted that since the petitioner had to participate in the upcoming prestigious pre-Uttar Pradesh state shooting championship competition, which is going to be held in the beginning of July, and in the absence of a firearm licence for sports training and competition, the petitioner shall be disqualified from participating in the aforesaid event. On the other hand, the state government's counsel supported the DM's order, and stated that the petitioner had failed to provide the necessary documentary evidence in support of his application.He further submitted that in the said application, the petitioner had not disclosed the details as required under the Arms Rules, 2016.After hearing the parties, the court also perused the said application of the petitioner for the grant of an arms licence. A perusal of the said application showed that no column has been framed as per the aforesaid rules as to the detailed information/evidence of the petitioner as a 'Junior Shooter'.Further, the impugned order (the order under challenge) did not provide any opportunity to the petitioner to cure the defect as pointed out in the impugned order."In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case as stated, the impugned order dated May 3, 2025 cannot be justified in the eyes of law and the same is hereby set aside", the court added....