In The High Court of Delhi
(Crl. Rev. P. 494/2017)
Petitioner
Sunil Kumar Mishra
Respondent
State of Delhi
Date of Judgement
March 12th, 2020
Bench
Hon'ble Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva
Facts of the case:
- Petitioner is a driver and the sole bread earner of his family, Petitioner survives and earns his livelihood by driving only
- Petitioner was convicted by the Trial Court for the offences punishable under Sections 279/304-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months for the offence under Section 279 IPC and rigorous imprisonment for the period of 18 months under Section 304A IPC.
- The Appellate Court, in the appeal filed by the petitioner, considering mitigating circumstances and also the family condition of the petitioner, while upholding the order on conviction, modified the order on sentence and sentenced the petitioner to pay a fine of Rs. 1000/- for the offence under Section 279 IPC and in default of payment of fine to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 8 days and sentenced the petitioner to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 12 months for the offence under Section 304A of IPC, instead of 18 months.
Arguments Advanced:
- Learned counsel of petitioner submits that the cancellation of license is beyond the powers conferred on the court by Section 20 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. He submits that power has been vested only in the Licensing Authority under Section 19 of the Act to cancel a license or disqualify a person from obtaining a license and the power conferred on the Court under Section 20 of Act is to disqualify for a limited
- Learned counsel for the petitioner further submits that the case of the petitioner does not fall in either of the two categories. He submits that no action has been taken by the Licensing Authority under Section 19 for revoking his license and under Section 20 of the Act; power could have been exercised by the Court only if the petitioner had already been sentenced under Section 184 of the Act and committed an offence for the second
- Learned counsel for the petitioner relies on the judgments: Vidyanand vs. Addl. Licensing Authority, Hyderabad Central Zone, Hyderabad and Ors. 20081, S. Nandkumar Vs. Licensing Officer, Tiruppur South & Anr. 2010 2and A. Sekar Vs. The Regional Transport Officer, Tiruppur South 2010.
Findings:
- The petitioner is a driver by profession and cancellation of the driving license of the petitioner permanently and debarring him from obtaining a driving license for life time amounts to a civil death as he cannot carry out the vocation of driving throughout his life.
- In the present case, as noticed above, the concurrent findings of both the courts below is that petitioner caused the death by driving the offending vehicle i.e. truck trailer, in a rash and negligent manner and hit against the deceased from the back, in such a manner that it caused the death of the deceased on the spot. Clearly, it cannot be said that the action of the Appellate Court in directing cancellation of the license driving license is unwarranted.
- However, in the facts of the case and particularly keeping in view the provisions of section 22 of the Act, Court opinion that cancellation of the license driving license of the petitioner for all classes or description of vehicles is
- Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, interest of justice would be served, in case, the sentence awarded by the Appellate Court of cancellation of the driving license of the petitioner and debarring him from obtaining any driving license throughout his life, is modified to the extent that the driving license of the petitioner is cancelled for the class and description of medium and heavy goods and medium and heavy passenger vehicle and he is debarred from obtaining a driving license for medium and heavy goods and medium and heavy passenger vehicle. For obtaining a driving license of other description of vehicles he shall have to undergo a fresh test of competence to drive.
Edited by Sree Ramya
Approved & Published – Sakshi Raje
Reference
[1] SCC Online AP 386.
[2] SCC Online Mad 2069.
[3] SCC Online Mad 4759.
