Police Officer Not Authorised To Suspend A Driving Licence, Only Licensing Authority Can Do So: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday observed that a police officer has no right to disqualify a person or revoke a driving licence under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and only the licensing authority is empowered to issue and suspend a driving licence.

The Bench of Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya observed thus while hearing a plea filed by one Priyasha Bhattacharyya who sought quashing of an order passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic Department, Kolkata suspending her Driving Licence for 90 days on account of overspending.

Justifying its move to suspend the license, the State argued before the Court that a notification issued by it in the year 2016 empowers the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and Superintendent of Police of the Districts to act in terms of section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act for disqualifying offending drivers or revoking their licences if it is found necessary for the purpose of ensuring effective control of traffic under Chapter VIII of the Act.

However, the Court noted that although the state's 2016 Notification referred to section 19 of the Act, there was no evidence whether the relevant provisions of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 have been amended to reflect the authorization given to the Police. 

The Court further stressed that the Motor Vehicles Act gives the power only to the licensing authority and limits the power of the police to disqualify a person or revoke his license under the Act, therefore, it held that a later Notification issued by the State Transport Department cannot override the provisions of the parent Act.

"...only a licensing authority can disqualify a person from holding or obtaining a driving licence or revoke such licence [19(1)(i) and (ii)]. The order of disqualification may also be given by the licensing authority under 19(1A) of the Act. Licensing authority has been defined in section 2(20) and does not include any authority other than an authority empowered to issue licences," the Court further observed.

Importantly, the Court stressed that usually, the notification under a provision of any statute must be in aid of and in sync with the statutory scheme, however, in the instant case, the notification was creating confusion as to the license impounding powers of the authority mentioned in the Act. 

Consequently, holding that the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic Department did not have the power to suspend the licence of the petitioner, the impugned order of suspending the licence was quashed.

The Court ordered the respondents to release the Driving Licence of the petitioner within a period of 2 weeks. However, the Court did not approve of the justification given by the petitioner for the act of overspeeding. "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 Court further added.

Case title - Priyasha Bhattacharyya vs The State Of West Bengal And Others

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Cal) 274

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