Over 1,000 motorists in Ernakulam will be stripped of their licences, albeit temporarily, as the Motor Vehicles Department gears up for a crackdown in compliance with a direction from the Supreme Court-appointed Committee on Road Safety.
The committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge K.S. Radhakrishnan, had ordered the suspension of licences of motorists for three months for violation of traffic rules more than five times.
“There will be nearly 1,300 such offenders caught in our surveillance cameras since October 2016. They will be summoned for hearing, and if their reasoning is found unsatisfactory, their licences will be impounded and released only after three months,” said Ernakulam Regional Transport Officer P.H. Sadik Ali. MVD officials also feel that the move would give teeth to them for acting against those found guilty of overloading. The committee has also directed the police to initiate prosecution measures against those apprehended for drunk driving.
Meanwhile, the department is waiting for clarification on whether motorists should be fined over and above the impounding of their licences. The MVD has launched measures across the State to suspend the licences of 1,62,000 motorists found violating traffic rules between October 1, 2016 and May 25, 2017.
