Police can only seize, not suspend driving licence for traffic violation, says Calcutta High Court

A petitioner had moved to the Calcutta High Court seeking quashing of an order of the assistant commissioner of police, traffic department, suspending her driving licence.

The Motor Vehicles Act, according to the Calcutta High Court, only permits police to seize a suspected offender's driver licence and send it to the licensing body for suspension or revocation. When it was discovered that the petitioner was driving her car at an excessive pace, Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya ordered the Kolkata Police to release the petitioner's driving licence within two weeks of the communication of the order. The court revoked the police officer's order suspending the petitioner's licence, ruling that the assistant commissioner of police in charge of the traffic division lacked the authority to do so.

Petitioner Priyasha Bhattacharyya had moved the high court seeking quashing of a May 20 order of the assistant commissioner of police, traffic department, suspending her driving licence for 90 days from the date of interception on May 19.

Passing the order, Justice Bhattacharya said that the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 shows that only a licensing authority can disqualify a person from holding or obtaining a driving licence or revoke such licence.

The judge held that licensing authority is no other than an authority empowered to issue licenses. Justice Bhattacharya said that section 206 of the Act refers to the power of the licensing authority to disqualify or revoke under section 19 and limits the power of a police officer to impound a document by restricting the power of the police only to seize the driving license and forward it to the licensing authority for disqualification or revocation.

The petitioner had claimed in the petition that she was rushing back home to tend to her nine-month-old baby as she was alone at home after buying some essential stuff for the child from a mall in south Kolkata.

Giving relief to the petitioner strictly on the basis of the relevant statutory provisions, the court, however, said that the reason given by the petitioner for violating the speed limit of the road trivializes the issue of road safety. "The excuse for overspeeding is no ground at all since the petitioner should have a sufficient eco-system in place and not become a risk to other travelers on the road," the judge observed.

With inputs from PTI