Section 44 Power to make rules

Section 44 of Arms Act 1959 : Power to make rules

(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-

(a) the appointment, jurisdiction, control and functions of licensing authorities 1 [including the areas and the categories of arms and ammunition for which they may grant licences];

(b) the form and particulars of application for the grant or renewal of a licence and where the application is for the renewal of a licence, the time within which it shall be made;

(c) the form in which and the conditions subject to which any licence may be granted or refused, renewed, varied, suspended or revoked;

(d) where no period has been specified in this Act, the period for which any licence shall continue to be in force;

(e) the fees payable in respect of any application for the grant or renewal of a licence and in respect of any licence granted or renewed and the manner of paying the same;

(f) the manner in which the maker’s name, the manufacturer’s number or other identification mark of a *firearm or ammunition shall be stamped or otherwise shown thereon for the purposes of tracing;

Explanation.-For the purposes of this clause, "tracing" means the systematic tracking of firearms and ammunition from manufacturer to purchaser for the purpose of detecting, investigating and analysing illicit manufacturing and illicit trafficking;'.

(g) the procedure for the test or proof of any firearms;

(h) the firearms that may be used in the course of training, the age-limits of persons who may use them and the conditions for their use by such persons;

(i) the authority to whom appeals may be preferred under section 18, the procedure to be followed by such authority and the period within which appeals shall be preferred, the fees to be paid in respect of such appeals and the refund of such fees;

(j) the maintenance of records or accounts of anything done under a licence other than a licence under section 3 or section 4, the form of, and the entries to be made in, such records or accounts and the exhibition of such records or accounts to any police officer or to any officer of Government empowered in this behalf;

(k) the entry and inspection by any police officer or by any officer of Government empowered in this behalf of any premises or other place in which arms or ammunition are or is manufactured or in which arms or ammunition are or is kept by a manufacturer of or dealer in such arms or ammunition and the exhibition of the same to such officer;

(l) the conditions subject to which arms or ammunition may be deposited with a licensed dealer or in a unit armoury as required by sub-section (1) of section 21 and the period on the expiry of which the things so deposited may be forfeited;

(m) any other matter which is to be, or may be, prescribed.

(3) Every rule made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament, while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in 1 [two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid], both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.

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1. Ins. by Act 25 of 1983, s. 16 (w.e.f. 22-6-1983).

*Ins. by Act 48 of 2019, s.2 (w.e.f. 13-12-2019)