NOTE: Apparently every state is going about it in a different way, so some/ all of this may very different in your own jurisdiction.
Two days back (Monday 14th Sept), I received 2 text messages from Delhi Police, asking me to present myself along with license booklet on 16th September for issue of UIN. The first one gave the time as 10-1:30 PM and the second said between 10-11 AM.
Last week, my father too had received a similar text from Delhi Police asking him to present himself on 11th Sept between 12AM-12:30PM (sic). However, since he only checks his text messages every few days, he missed the designated date/ time.
Today morning, the both of us went to the licensing branch of Delhi Police.
The first thing that struck me was that the parking was packed, but there was only a minor overflow - the Delhi Police's strategy of staggering days/ times for issue of UIN to arms licensees seemed to be working. We got parking a 100 or so meters away from the official parking area, next to the nallah (where they park the towed cars).
On entering the gate we realised that Delhi Police had obviously put some thought into the expected number of people, as there were chairs kept outside the building and printed directions posted on the walls. As per directions arms licensees were to approach specific counter numbers, depending on the first alphabet of their name.
There were also two plain clothes officers stationed right there, handing out a brief form and answering queries. On enquiry about my father's case, they said he would now have to wait for the second round of text messages that they will send out to those who could not make it on the designated date/ time.
PLEASE NOTE: The nationwide deadline for issue of UIN is 30th September 2015
The form asked for the following information:
Date of Birth
Mobile number
e-mail ID
Signature & date
Since I have two different booklets/ arms licenses for my two firearms, there was some confusion as to whether I needed to fill out one form or two. Past experience with government departments dictated that I take two forms and fill them out, just in case the UIN was less than Unique.
I presented myself at the designated counter, where I was asked for my name and to show my arms license booklet. Since I had two, there was some further confusion before my name was located on the list. On locating the name, it was found that only one arms license was listed there. The person on the counter, put a check against my name and asked me to get the sticker for the listed license on the next counter - the next set of counters are located on the ground floor to the left of where the entry passes are usually issued.
On the next counter, when I discussed the fact that only one arms license was listed and what to do about the second one, they placed a UIN sticker on the listed license and asked me to go upstairs to the computer room to find out about how to solve the second booklet issue.
In the computer room, I met a very helpful gentleman, who told me that for anyone with more than one booklet they were combining them all into one and issuing a UIN. However, in my case (and another case earlier in the day), they could not follow this procedure as one was issued by Ministry of Home Affairs and one was issued by Delhi Police. Furthermore, there was a glitch in the NDAL (National Database of Arms Licenses) system, which was not allowing them to print UIN stickers with more than one booklet number. This had already been brought to the notice of MHA and he said it should be fixed in the next couple of days. The obvious question was, "So what should I do next?". The answer, either I or a person carrying an authority letter (from me) can revisit them after 2-3 days and they will do the needful at that time.
Then I brought up the issue of my father having missed his designated date/ time for issue of UIN. The gent asked me for his booklet and the date/ time he had been given, within minutes he had processed my father's case and we were free to go home.
I have said this before, I think that in terms of efficiency it is hard to beat the Delhi Police Licensing department.
While I may have my own personal reservations about the whole UIN concept, I can't flaw the execution bit at the Delhi Police level. They've done a good job of it!
Cheers!
Abhijeet
