Lawyer claims driving licence blocked without procedure; HC seeks Delhi govt stand

new delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday ask the Centre, AAP government and police to reply to a lawyer's plea claiming he was issued a traffic challan for allegedly jumping a red light and his driving licence was suspended without following the proper procedure. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued notice to the Ministry of Transport, the transport department of the Delhi government and the Traffic Police seeking their stand on the petition which has claimed that the driving licence was blocked from the date of incident without giving the lawyer an opportunity to contest the challan.

The plea by Suryakant Singla, represented by advocate Satyam Thareja, has also challenged the traffic department's letter asking him to deposit with it his driving licence without first passing an order suspending it.

He has also sought a declaration from the court that rule 21 of the Motor Vehicles Rules be declared ultra vires the Motor Vehicles Act as it takes away the discretion vested with the licensing authority to disqualify or revoke a licence.

The plea has claimed that the challan for jumping a red light was issued to him on August 23, 2020 when there was no sign or signal at the site — Moolchand here — forbidding taking a left turn.