Madras High Court to pass detailed order on driving licence issue

The First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar said this while hearing elaborate arguments on the issue of carrying original driving licence.

The matter relates to a petition filed by All India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners Association challenging the insistence of carrying original driving licence while driving vehicles and sought to quash the same.

The petitioner submitted that lot of offences and punishments were already enumerated in case of violating rules whereas Rule 139 of Motor Vehicles Rules said that in case one's original driving licence is seized by any department an attested copy made by such department or by the concerned court can be shown.

Referring to the memorandum of the Director General of Police date August 24, the petitioner said that those driving without license would be prosecuted under Sections 130 and 181 of MV Act 1988.

As per Section 181, the punishment would be imprisonment of three months, he said while contending that the memorandum was not correct and improper and not sustainable in the eye of law.

Stating that the act does not contemplate any prosecution against a person carrying duly attested true copies of the driving licence and the other documents related to the vehicle while driving it, the petitioner submitted that driving without licence is a punishable offence but not carrying the copy (of the licence).

The Chief Justice, who sought to know why a person should drive a vehicle without possessing a driving licence, said Rule 139 only states under which circumstances you cannot carry the licence.

Even the Act or Rules don't mention about carrying photocopy of the licence, the judge said.

The Tamil Nadu government had on September 8 filed a counter affidavit in the High Court in connection with the petitions filed challenging the insistence of carrying original licence while riding or driving vehicles.

The counter affidavit stated that the original licence had become indispensable based on the recommendations of the Road Safety Committee constituted by the Supreme Court in 2014 to monitor road safety laws in the country.

The court had earlier on August 29 observed that there was nothing wrong in people carrying their original licence while riding or driving vehicles after some petitioners had opposed a government order in this regard.