Kurla bus tragedy: Process to revoke driver's licence has begun, say RTO officials

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Motor Vehicles department has initiated the process of revoking the driving licence of the bus driver involved in the December 9 Kurla accident, which left nine persons dead and around 40 injured, officials said on Thursday.

The Regional Transport Office (RTO) at Wadala, which has jurisdiction over the eastern suburbs of Mumbai, has issued a show cause notice to bus driver Sanjay More as part of the process to revoke the licence, they added.

Deputy Regional Transport Officer Pallavi Kothawade confirmed the development and said the process of cancelling More's licence started earlier this week.

"We issued a show cause notice to More on Monday. Further action will be taken under Motor Vehicles Act based on his reply to the notice," Kothawade told PTI.

Wadala RTO regional transport officer Ravi Gaikwad did not respond to queries on the issue.

Meanwhile, other officials said Mumbai police had written to Wadala RTO seeking revoking of More's licence due to the severity of the accident.

An electric bus wet-leased by the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking had rammed into several vehicles on the night of December 9 in Kurla, killing nine and injuring more than 40 persons. Several vehicles were totalled in the incident.

More will not be able to drive any vehicle once his licence, which he has held for the past 23 years, is revoked, the officials said.

More was employed by a third-party agency that supplies drivers to EVEY TRANS, a subsidiary of electric bus manufacturer Olectra.

He had been driving mini-buses of BEST's wet lease operators for the last four years and was deployed to the drive the 12-metre e-bus, the kind that was involved in the accident, from December this year after he joined the new company, officials said.

As per RTO records, More's transport category licence, initially valid for light motor vehicles like tempos and taxis, was issued on July 5, 1990 and on August 8, 1991 he got a heavy vehicle licence required to drive trucks and buses.

More also has a driver's badge, which is mandatory for driving public service vehicles, including buses in the fleets of BEST and Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). This badge was issued to him by the RTO on December 18, 1999, records showed.