HC: Suspend DL of motorist who hid his medical condition

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 4

In a first, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that a motorist obtaining driving licence after concealing facts about his medical condition would end up with a suspended licence.

The Bench made this clear while rejecting the bail plea of an epilepsy patient involved in an accident after suffering from a seizure.

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The licence will remain suspended till the petitioner-motorist, an epilepsy patient involved in an accident after suffering a seizure, furnished fresh medical fitness certificate from the PGI, Chandigarh. —Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan, HC

In his detailed order, Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan directed the SDM-cum-Transport Officer to suspend the licence immediately. Justice Sangwan ruled that the licence would remain suspended till the time the petitioner-motorist furnished fresh medical certificate from PGI, Chandigarh.

Justice Sangwan asserted that it was admittedly the petitioner’s own case that he was an epilepsy patient since 2016 and had procured the driving licence without disclosing the fact. It was also his case that he suffered a seizure, resulting in the accident and was later on admitted to a hospital. “A perusal of the FIR shows that after the accident, the petitioner ran away from the spot instead of providing medical assistance to the persons who had suffered injuries. Mere fact that the petitioner is in custody since March 30 is not a ground to grant him the concession of regular bail,” he ruled.

Appearing before the Bench, the counsel for the petitioner had argued that the motorist was a patient with history of epilepsy undergoing treatment at the PGI since 2016. Relying upon the medical record, the counsel had submitted that the brain’s electrical activity was periodically disturbed in the patients, resulting in some degree of temporary brain dysfunction. In some cases, seizure caused uncontrollable shaking and loss of consciousness.

The counsel for the complainant, on the other hand, had argued that the petitioner had procured the driving licence by concealing his medical condition, though it was mandatory under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. It was also mandatory for the applicant to disclose whether he was suffering from any disease such as epilepsy or from sudden attacks of loss of consciousness etc. Medical certificate was required to be attached, if the answer was “yes”.