No provisions in Motor Vehicles Act to carry original driver’s license, says Madras HC

The court was hearing a writ petition filed by Sukumar from the Lorry Owners’ Federation.
No provisions in Motor Vehicles Act to carry original driver’s license, says Madras HC
No provisions in Motor Vehicles Act to carry original driver’s license, says Madras HC
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In what will come as temporary relief to motorists in Chennai, the Madras High Court on Friday observed that there are no provisions in the Motor Vehicles Act, which emphasise carrying the original driving license while driving.

The High Court’s observation comes after the Chennai police made it mandatory for drivers to carry their original license from September 1.

The court was hearing a writ petition filed by Sukumar from the Lorry Owners’ Federation. In his petition, Sukumar said that the new rule of carrying the original license was in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The court asked the Tamil Nadu government, “Won’t the original licence get damaged if two-wheeler riders are carrying them during rains?”

Following the observation, the state government has assured the court that the new order for carrying original licences will not be implemented for the next four days.

The Chennai traffic police had recently announced that motorists who failed to carry their original license would be liable to be punished with a jail term of up to three months, or a fine of Rs 500 or both, reported The Hindu.

Since the announcement, a number of petitions were filed in court challenging the police’s move.

On Tuesday, when social activist Traffic Ramaswamy made a mention about the new rule before the first bench of the Madras High Court, Chief Justice Indira Banerjee asked, “What is the difficulty in carrying the original driving licence?”

Later, the court had asked the activist to file a petition in this regard.

K Aswin, State coordinator of Justice for Denials Association also filed a petition in the High Court seeking a direction to the Transport Department to not make carrying the original driver’s license mandatory.

But this isn’t the first rule that has motorists in the state up in arms. The Tamil Nadu government issued a circular dated August 24, ordering that people cannot buy a vehicle above 50cc without having a valid driving license. The circular sent to all Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and registered automobile dealers in Tamil Nadu will also come into effect from September 1.  

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