Patna high court raps officials for ‘not applying their brains’

PATNA: The Patna high court on Wednesday came down heavily on police officers and bureaucrats for “not applying their brains” and getting important writing works done by ‘munshis’ and ‘peshkaars’, which they should themselves do.
The division bench of Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Anjana Mishra made this oral observation while allowing an LPA filed by real estate developer Mahesh Prasad of Kankarbagh.He had applied for arms licence way back in 2009 and his application was rejected by then Patna DM in 2017, citing police report that he had attained an age of 55 years and seemed not able to keep a firearm safely.
Sub-inspector (SI) Ramakant had prepared the report on Prasad’s application. The SI had also cited reason that the applicant was short-tempered and might get involved in litigations. However, the SI mentioned in his report that there was nothing adverse in police records against Prasad. The report, prepared on October 21, 2017, was endorsed and forwarded to senior authorities by the then station house officer the very next day.
Based on this report, then Patna sadar subdivisional officer (SDO) and then the DM refused to grant Prasad an arms licence. Petitioner’s counsel Manisha Pandey briefed the bench.
Chief Justice Sahi, while going through the records, asked additional advocate general Prabhat Kumar Verma how the SI had prepared such a report and whether he had got the petitioner medically examined at PMCH? He also observed that if the SDO had studied the Arms Act.
The CJ made oral comment that reports were being prepared by peshkaars of the bureaucrats and munshis at police station level and the officers have become deities of their own temples and blindly sign the reports. “Ask them to change their working style or someday they will land behind bars. There is limit to such things. The DM made a mindless disposal. Licencing authorities should not act on whims. If they are overloaded with work, they must tell the government to give the responsibility to someone else,” the CJ observed while allowing the LPA.