16. Power of Regional Transport Authority to disqualify.
(1)A Regional Transport Authority constituted under Chapter IV may for reasons to be recorded in writing and subject to any prescribed conditions declare any person disqualified, for a specified period, for holding or obtaining a licence to drive [any transport vehicle or a transport vehicle of a particular class or description] [Substituted by Act 56 of 1969, section 7, for 'a transport vehicle' (w.e.f. 2-3-1970).] in the State.(1A)[ Upon the issue of an order under sub-section (1), the holder of a driving licence shall forthwith surrender his driving licence to the licensing authority which issued the driving licence (hereafter in this section referred to as the issuing authority), or, as the case may be, to the licensing authority by which the driving licence was last renewed (hereafter in this section referred to as the renewing authority), and the issuing authority or, as the case may be, the renewing authority shall endorse the fact of disqualification in the driving licence and keep it until the period of disqualification has expired or the disqualification has been removed:Provided that where the driving licence authorises a person to drive more than one class or description of motor vehicles and the order, made under sub-section (1), disqualifies him from driving any specified class or description of motor vehicles, the authority to which the driving licence was surrendered shall endorse the fact of disqualification in the driving licence and return the same to the holder.(1B)Where an order of disqualification has been made under sub-section (1), the period of disqualification shall be reckoned from the date of surrender of the driving licence to the issuing authority or the renewing authority, as the case may be, under subsection (1A), or from the date on which the relevant endorsement is made on the driving licence, whichever is earlier:Provided that in a case where the driving licence is, on the date on which the said order is made, in the possession of the issuing authority or the renewing authority or a police officer, the disqualification shall take effect from the date of 'the said orders.] [Inserted by Act 47 of 1978, section 7 (w.e.f. 16.1.1979).](2)Any person aggrieved by an order of a Regional Transport Authority made under sub-section (1) may within thirty days of the receipt of intimation of such order appeal against the order to the prescribed authority.
