Madras High Court
Unknown vs The Regional Transport Officer on 4 August, 2021
W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
DATED: 04.08.2021
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE R.SURESH KUMAR
W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
(through video conference)
R.Karuppanan ... Petitioner
-Vs-
The Regional Transport Officer,
The Regional Transport Office,
Dindigul. ... Respondent
Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India, to
issue a Writ of Mandamus, directing the respondent to return the
petitioner's original driving licence within a time limit that may be fixed
by this Court.
For Petitioner : Mr.S.Arunachalam
for M/s.G.M.Xavier
For R-1 : Mr.D.Ghandhiraj
Government Advocate
ORDER
The prayer sought for herein is for a Writ of Mandamus, directing
the respondent to return the petitioner's original driving licence within a
time limit that may be fixed by this Court.
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
2.There had been a fatal accident on 07.07.2021 involved the bus
bearing Registration No.TN 57 N 2012 driven by the petitioner at
Paraipatti, in the afternoon between 03.15 p.m., and 03.30 p.m. Pursuant
to the said fatal accident, it seems that a case has been registered by the
concerned police and the driving licence of the petitioner has been seized
by the police concerned and forwarded to the respondent, Regional
Transport Officer, for further action under the provisions of the Motor
Vehicles Act, 1988 [hereinafter referred to as “the Act” for short].
3.In pursuance of the same, the respondent issued a show cause
notice on 19.07.2021 to the petitioner invoking the provision that is
under Section 19 of the Act seeking show cause from the petitioner
within a timeframe. Pursuant to the said show cause notice, the
petitioner also had given reply on 20.07.2021. However, even after the
reply given by the petitioner, it is the case of the petitioner that the
respondent neither conducted enquiry and passed orders under Section
19 of the Act as initiated by them through the said show cause notice
dated 19.07.2021, nor they have released or returned the driving licence
in original of the petitioner seized and kept by the respondent.
Therefore, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present
writ petition.
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
4.Heard Mr.S.Arunachalam, learned counsel for the petitioner,
who would submit that, if at all any proceedings is initiated under
Section 19 of the Act by issuance of show cause notice and after getting
reply from the person against whom the show cause notice is issued,
enquiry should be conducted as to whether any violation had been taken
place in this regard by the licence holder and accordingly, order should
be passed. However, without conducting an enquiry and without
concluding the Section 19 proceedings, the licence in original of the
person concerned cannot be retained endlessly by the respondent and the
respondent does not have this power. This has also been reiterated in a
number of judgments of this Court. Therefore, relying upon those
judgments, the learned counsel seeks indulgence of this Court to give a
direction to the release of the driving licence of the petitioner by the
respondent immediately.
5.I have heard the learned Government Advocate for the
respondent, who would submit that, under Section 19 of the Act, the
power of licensing authority to disqualify any person from holding a
driving licence or revoke such licence, has been contemplated. In the
said section, various circumstances have been mentioned, under which,
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
the licence of the licence holder can be retained or suspended for
sometime as a punishment to be awarded in this regard, after conducting
enquiry. In this context, in order to have a limited enquiry and take a
decision whether any violation has been taken place in this regard on the
part of the petitioner/licence holder, the proceedings was initiated and
show cause notice was issued, which is a pre-requisite to conduct an
enquiry.
6.Pursuant to the show cause notice, the petitioner seems to have
given a reply on 20.07.2021 and based on such reply, certainly the
respondent would conduct a limited enquiry and pass order as to whether
any violation has been committed by the petitioner or any offence has
been committed by the petitioner and after ascertaining the same, final
orders would be passed under Section 19 of the Act either to disqualify
him from holding the licence or to revoke the licence or otherwise. If
any such decision is taken, accordingly the licence of the petitioner either
would be suspended or revoked or would be given back to the petitioner,
depending upon the outcome of the enquiry to be conducted by the
respondent in this regard. Therefore, quoting the aforesaid proceedings,
the learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondent seeks
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
indulgence of this court to give reasonable time to the respondent to
complete the enquiry and pass final orders.
7.I have considered the said rival submissions made by the learned
counsel appearing for the parties and perused the materials placed before
this Court.
8.In respect of these kind of controversy, a number of orders had
been passed by this Court where the law had been held that, without
having resorted to a limited enquiry to be conducted in this regard and to
come to a conclusion that the licence holder has committed any offence
or violated any provisions of the Act as well as the rules made
thereunder, the licence cannot be retained or revoked or the holder of the
licence cannot be disqualified.
9.In this context, Section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act reads thus:
19. Power of licensing authority to
disqualify from holding a driving licence or revoke
such licence . - (1) If a licensing authority is
satisfied, after giving the holder of a driving licence
an opportunity of being heard, that he –
(a) is a habitual criminal or a habitual drunkard ;
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
or
(b) is a habitual addict to any narcotic drug or
psychotropic substance within the meaning of the
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Act, 1985 ; or
(c) is using or has used a motor vehicle in the
commission of a cognizable offence ; or
(d) has by his previous conduct as driver of a motor
vehicle shown that his driving is likely to be
attended with danger to the public ; or
(e) has obtained any driving licence or a licence to
drive a particular class or description of motor
vehicle by fraud or misrepresentation ; or
(f) has committed any such act which is likely to
cause nuisance or danger to the public, as may be
prescribed by the Central Government, having
regard to the objects of this Act; or
(g) has failed to submit to, or has not passed, the
tests referred to in the proviso to sub-section (3) of
section 22 ; or
(h) being a person under the age of eighteen years
who has been granted a learner’s licence or a
driving licence with the consent in writing of the
person having the care of the holder of the licence
and has ceased to be in such care, it may, for
reasons to be recorded in writing, make an order –
(i) disqualifying that person for a specified period
for holding or obtaining any driving licence to drive
all or any classes or descriptions of vehicles
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
specified in the licence ; or
(ii) revoke any such licence.
(2) Where an order under sub-section (1) is made,
the holder of a driving licence shall forthwith
surrender his driving licence to the licensing
authority making the order, if the driving licence
has not already been surrendered, and the licensing
authority shall, -
(a) if the driving licence is a driving licence issued
under this Act, keep it until the disqualification has
expired or has been removed ; or
(b) if it is not a driving licence issued under this
Act, endorse the disqualification upon it and send it
to the licensing authority by which it was issued ; or
(c) in the case of revocation of any licence, endorse
the revocation upon it and if it is not the authority
which issued the same, intimate the fact of
revocation to the authority which issued that
licence:
Provided that where the driving licence of a person
authorises him to drive more than one class or
description of motor vehicles and the order, made
under subsection (1), disqualifies him from driving
any specified class or description of motor vehicles,
the licensing authority shall endorse the
disqualification upon the driving licence and return
the same to the holder.
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
(3) Any person aggrieved by an order made by a
licensing authority under sub-section (1) may,
within thirty days of the receipt of the order, appeal
to the prescribed authority, and such appellate
authority shall give notice to the licensing authority
and hear either party if so required by that party
and may pass such order as it thinks fit and an
order passed by any such appellate authority shall
be final.”
10.If we look at the provisions of Section 19 of the Act, it makes it
clear that, if it is satisfied after giving the holder of the licence, an
opportunity of being heard, if he has committed any offence or has made
any violation, the licensing authority, for the reasons to be recorded in
writing, can make an order disqualifying the person for a specified period
for holding or obtaining any driving licence to dirve any class or
description of vehicle specified in the licence or revoke any such licence.
11.That apart, Sub-Section 1 (A) of Section 19 was recently
inserted by Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019 (Act 32 of 2019),
which came into effect from 19.08.2019 under which, if a licence has
been forwarded to the licensing authority under Sub-Section 4 of Section
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
206, the licensing authority if satisfied after giving holder of the driving
licence, an opportunity of being heard may either discharge the holder of
the driving licence or it may have detailed reasons recorded in writing
make an order disqualifying such persons from holding or obtaining any
licence all or any of the class or description of vehicle. For the first
offence, such punishment shall be for a period of three months and for
second and subsequent offence, the revocation shall be the penalty.
12.These are all the procedures contemplated under Section 19 of
the Motor Vehicles Act.
13.Since the statutory duty cast upon the licensing authority that is
the respondent herein, he has initiated such proceedings by issuing show
cause notice on 19.07.2021 seeking show cause from the petitioner
which had been properly responded by the petitioner by giving reply
dated 20.07.2021. Now, the ball is in the Court of the respondent so as
to immediately conduct an enquiry, of course a limited enquiry, to verify
as to whether the petitioner had violated any provisions of the Act as
well as the rules made thereunder or any other punishable offences have
been committed by him.
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14.In this context, it is to be reminded that, merely because a fatal
accident had been reported where the vehicle driven by the petitioner is
involved, it cannot be presumed that the petitioner has committed a
punishable offence as that has to be decided only by the competent
Court, where a case would be conducted by the concerned police.
However, at this juncture, a limited enquiry can be undertaken by the
respondent only to verify whether any provisions of the Act as well as
the rules made thereunder had been violated by the petitioner. Only for
the said purpose, enquiry as contemplated under Section 19 of the Act
can go on and after completing such enquiry, if the respondent comes to
a conclusion that none of the provisions of the Act as well as the rules
has been violated, it is open to the respondent to release the licence to the
petitioner. Therefore, after adopting this procedure as has been
contemplated under Section 19 of the Act, needful can be done and the
final order in this regard shall be passed by the respondent within a
timeframe to be fixed by this Court.
15.In that view of the matter, this Writ Petition is disposed of with
the following order:-
that there shall be a direction to the respondent to consider
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
the reply given by the petitioner dated 20.07.2021, pursuant
to the show cause notice dated 19.07.2021 issued by the
respondent and in this regard, after giving a notice conduct a
personal enquiry and thereafter final order shall be passed by
taking into account the aforesaid observations made in this
order and such final order shall be passed within a period of
thirty days from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
16.It is needless to mention that, depending upon the outcome of
the final order to be passed, as indicated above, by the respondent, the
petitioner shall work out his remedy accordingly. It is also needless to
mention that once notice is issued, the petitioner shall cooperate and
appear before the respondent for completing the enquiry as indicated
above.
17.With these directions, this Writ Petition is disposed of. No
costs.
04.08.2021
Index : Yes/No
sm
Note: Issue Order Copy on 05.08.2021.
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W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
R.SURESH KUMAR ,J.
sm
Note: In view of the present lock down owing to COVID-19 pandemic, a
web copy of the order may be utilized for official purposes, but, ensuring
that the copy of the order that is presented is the correct copy, shall be
the responsibility of the advocate / litigant concerned.
To
The Regional Transport Officer,
The Regional Transport Office,
Dindigul.
Order made in
W.P.(MD)No.13365 of 2021
Dated:
04.08.2021
https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis/
