Rs 10,000 arms licence fee, pay Rs 20,000 extra for it in Muktsar
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Muktsar, September 3
An arms licence, which is supposed to cost less than Rs 10,000 as per government norms, is actually costing around Rs 30,000 to every applicant in Muktsar district.
The total expenditure on procuring an arms licence includes facilitation charge of sewa kendra, government fee, police sanjh kendra fee, weapon training and handling certificate fee, dope test fee, weapon entry fee, besides an arbitrary fee of Rs 20,000 imposed by the district administration.
The arbitrary fee is collected in instalments of Rs 10,000 each. The money is collected in the name of donation to the District Olympic Association, which is headed by the Deputy Commissioner.
The system is almost the same everywhere in the state. However, the arbitrary fee varies in every district. It is Rs 10,000 in Fazilka. In some districts, the amount is collected as donation for District Red Cross Society.
The practice has been in place for about a decade and the amount sees an upward revision almost every year. In 2015, the arbitrary fee was Rs 3,500. Feigning ignorance, Muktsar Deputy Commissioner MK Aravind Kumar said, “I will have to check if there is any such fee.”
Several arms licence holders, however, maintain, “The file to apply for a licence is issued only after paying the first instalment. The final clearance takes place after the second instalment. Both ‘donation’ slips are attached with the file.”
In instalments
- An arbitrary fee of Rs 20,000 is charged from every applicant of an arms licence
- First instalment is collected at time of issuing application file, second just before the issuance of licence
- Collection is made in name of donation to District Olympic Association headed by the DC
