Under section 206 of the motor vehicles Act, a licence can be impounded only if the officer is suspicious that the accused is likely to abscond or not attend the court.
Only a month ago, the Bombay high court had observed that “in a city like Mumbai, where public transport is awful, someone’s licence cannot be suspended for 10 months.” Now, a more murkier case has landed in the court.
Nikhil Kisnani, 24, a businessman from Wadala, has moved the high court to get back his driving licence. It was seized by the traffic police in Worli on December 27, 2008, when Kisnani was arrested for drunken driving. The cops also fined him Rs2,000.
“I had been given a temporary licence, so that I can appear in the magistrate’s court for the hearing next day. The temporary licence was extended up to February 7, 2009,” Kisnani has said in his petition. Currently, Kisnani has no licence.
“Under section 206 of the motor vehicles Act, a licence can be impounded only if the officer is suspicious that the accused is likely to abscond or not attend the court,” the petition has said.
Kisnani has also stated that although lodging an FIR is mandatory under section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code [CrPC], no FIR was lodged in his case.
“No FIR has been registered me. A chargesheet is filed only after lodging an FIR, and investigation is conducted thereafter. The police have filed a one-page chargesheet without lodging FIR,” the petitioner has stated.
According to the petition, Kisnani’s case has been transferred to a special court, even though the law states that cases under section 185 of the motor vehicles Act should only be tried in a magistrate’s court. The trial has been pending in the special court in Dadar since September for various reasons.
The traffic police have opposed Kisnani’s petition. In an affidavit, recently filed in the court, sub-inspector Digambar Shinde, attached to Bandra traffic police, has stated that as chargesheet had already been filed, the matter was no more pending.
Kisnani was caught for drunken driving at E Moses Road, Worli. His breath analysis report revealed 509 mg alcohol/100 ml of blood. The law permits only 30 mg/100 ml. He was immediately booked and fined Rs2,000.
The case will come up for hearing on January 11, additional public prosecutor Poonam Bhosale said.
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