JUDGMENT :

(Prayer : Petition filed Under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus directing the 2nd respondent herein to return the original driving license (DL.No.TN43 2004 0002685) to the petitioner forthwith.)

1. The prayer sought for herein is a writ of mandamus directing the 2nd respondent herein to return the original driving license (DL.No.TN43 2004 0002685) to the petitioner forthwith.

2. The petitioner was working as a Driver in Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation at Coimbatore. When he was on duty on 02.10.2021 riding the bus belongs to the Transport Corporation in the route between Mettupalayam and Coimbatore, at a place called Thudiyalur, the vehicle in question driven by the petitioner met with an accident, with a result, one person died.

3. The said fatal accident was reported to the Police and the Police registered a case by registering an F.I.R. in F.I.R. No. 1374 of 2021 dated 02.10.2021 for the alleged offence punishable under Section 279 & 304A of I.P.C.

4. Pursuant to the said accident, the driving license of the petitioner was seized by the said Police authorities and has been handed over to the 2nd respondent i.e., the Regional Transport Officer, Coimbatore North, the said license of the petitioner since has been handed over to the 2nd respondent, the petitioner without the license is not able to report duty to the employer thereby his livelihood is affected. Hence, in order to get back the said license, the petitioner had given a representation to the 2nd respondent on 05.10.2021 and the said representation since was not considered and which has been kept pending by the 2nd respondent, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present writ petition with the aforesaid prayer.

5. Heard Mr. K. Hariharan, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, who would submit that, if at all the license was seized by the respondent Police, who registered a case against the petitioner for the alleged accident with the result of that there has been death, the license handed over to the respondents cannot be kept by the 2nd respondent authority endlessly without conducting any enquiry and in this regard, if at all, the alleged offence punishable against the petitioner, for which, the criminal case was registered is to be proved, it will take a long time before the concerned Criminal Court to establish the case on behalf of the prosecution and till such a longer period, it cannot be justified on the part of the Transport Authorities i.e., the Licensing Authorities to retain the driving license of the petitioner thereby the livelihood of the petitioner since is being affected, the petitioner is entitled to get back the said driving license pending enquiry to be conducted in this regard under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act as well as the pendency of the criminal case pending on the file of the respondent Police. Therefore, the learned counsel seeks indulgence of this Court to issue a direction to the respondents, especially, the 2nd respondent to return back the driving license of the petitioner forthwith.

6. Heard Mr. E. Vijay Anand, learned Additional Government Pleader appearing for respondents, who would submit that, since it is a fatal accident, pursuant to which, a case has been registered, accordingly, the driving license of the petitioner was seized and handed over to the 2nd respondent/Licensing Authority, it is the duty of the 2nd respondent to conduct an enquiry under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and in this regard, a show cause notice would be given by the Licensing Authority to the petitioner. On receipt of the same, if the petitioner comes forward to give the show cause within a time to be stipulated in this regard, on considering the same, an enquiry would be conducted by giving an opportunity of being heard to the petitioner and thereafter, the Licensing Authority would decide as to whether the driving license of the petitioner can