The driving licence of IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman, who had been arraigned as an accused in the drunk driving-related August 3 road accident that claimed the life of journalist K.M. Basheer, has been suspended for one year.
Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Thiruvananthapuram, S.R. Shaji, in his order on Monday, barred the suspended Kerala cadre IAS officer from driving motor vehicles from August 19, 2019 to August 18, 2020.
‘Surrender licence’
The RTO has asked Mr. Venkitaraman to surrender immediately the original driving licence issued to him from Mattanchery in 2005 to the Licensing Authority, Thiruvananthapuram, or to the Joint Regional Transport Officer, Mattanchery.
The action comes in the wake of the finding that Mr. Venkitaraman had driven the car in a rash and negligent way, resulting in the death of Basheer, Bureau Chief of Malayalam daily Siraj .
The RTO, in his order, pointed out that Dr. Venkitaraman had been booked by the police under Section 279, 304 (A) of the Indian Penal Code and under Section 184 of Central Motor Vehicles Act.
Wafa gets notice
The Motor Vehicles Department has also issued notice to Wafa Firoz, the owner of the car that rammed the motorcycle of Basheer, seeking why her driving licence should not be suspended for three speeding instances on the Kowdiar-Vellayambalam stretch.
As Ms. Wafa was not available for serving the notice, the MVD officials pasted the notice in the house where she lives near Marappalam. The driving licence will be suspended after the time limit given to her expires later this week and after hearing her, a top MVD official said.
