Taking stern action against motorists for breaking traffic rules, the Navi Mumbai Sub-Regional Transport Office (RTO) suspended 4,085 driving licences over the past 10 months.
A traffic police officer said, “Last year, the Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner had ordered the traffic unit to follow the Supreme Court’s directives issued in 2015. Since then, the unit has been sending proposals to the RTO with the driving licence numbers of traffic offenders.”
The Navi Mumbai Traffic Police had forwarded a proposal to suspend the licences of 4,240 drivers who had flouted rules between January 1 and September 30. As of October, the Navi Mumbai Deputy RTO, Dashrath Waghule, has suspended 4,085 driving licences.
155 proposals pending
Mr. Waghule said, “A total of 155 proposals are pending. They are being processed. When the alleged offenders deny flouting the rule, a hearing is held. The suspended licences are then kept in our custody and released after three months.”
The most suspended licences were of motorists who had jumped the red signal (1,323) and used the cell phone while driving (1,008). In 2015, the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety headed by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan had issued specific instructions to all States and Union Territories on suspending driving licences.
Supreme Court directive
The committee said the licence of a driver could be suspended for a period of not less than three months under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, read with Rule 21 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, for driving at a speed exceeding the specified limit, jumping the red signal, overloading goods carriages, carrying passengers in goods carriages, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and using a cell phone while driving.
