Over a year after Kurla BEST bus tragedy, licence of driver revoked

Mumbai, Dec 30 (PTI) More than a year after the BEST bus accident claimed the lives of nine people and left 40 others injured in Mumbai's Kurla area, the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Department (MMVD) has finally revoked the permanent licence of the driver, who is currently in jail.

Coincidentally, the department revoked the licence of the bus driver, Sanjay More, on Monday, the same day that another BEST bus of the same manufacturer mowed down 14 passengers in the Bhandup area of Mumbai. Four passengers were killed and 10 others injured in the accident, which occurred around 10 pm on Monday.

"Incidentally, we revoked the licence of the driver (More) involved in the Kurla bus accident yesterday," an MMVD official said on the condition of anonymity, adding that a notice was served on the driver at the Arthur Road Jail on December 12.

The official said the department received the driver's response last week, based on which the Wadala Regional Transport Office (RTO) revoked More's driving licence, taking the "seriousness of the incident" into consideration. A copy of the revocation order was also physically handed over to him in jail.

With the revocation, More's transport-category driving licence, which he had held for about 25 years, now bars him from driving any vehicle.

As per the RTO records, More's transport-category licence, initially valid for light motor vehicles, such as tempos and taxis, was issued on July 5, 1990. A year later, on August 8, 1991, he upgraded to a heavy vehicle licence to drive trucks and buses.

A 12-metre-long electric bus hired by the BEST undertaking on a wet-lease basis had ploughed into a crowd on the night of December 9, 2025, fatally knocking down nine people and injuring 40 others in the Kurla West area.

However, even more than a year after the accident, action on his licence had not been taken by the department.

A few days after the horrific accident on the busy road outside Kurla station, the Mumbai police wrote to the Wadala RTO, urging the authorities to revoke More's licence considering the severity of the incident, in which multiple vehicles and pedestrians were struck by the speeding bus.

On the basis of it, the MMVD initiated the process to revoke More's driving licence as per the procedure laid down under Section 19 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

According to officials, the Wadala RTO of the MMVD had sent three show-cause notices to the bus driver, but these could not be delivered at his residential address. Another reason for the delay was that the driver had to be given an opportunity to present his side before his licence could be cancelled.

The RTO had also received a written request from More's son, stating that his father should be granted a hearing before any action was taken against his licence, in line with the procedure prescribed under the law.

RTO officials said that as per the procedure, More was to be given a chance to present his side, in the interest of natural justice and hence the revocation of his driving licence was delayed. They decided to serve him physical notice in the jail and to which he replied.

"He (More) had written that his licence should not be revoked as the charges against him are not proved yet," another RTO official said.

More was employed by a third-party agency that supplies drivers to EVEY Trans, a subsidiary of Olectra, the e-bus manufacturer. Prior to this, he had been driving minibuses for BEST's wet-lease operators for about four years. He was assigned to drive the 12-metre e-bus from December 1, 2024, after joining the new company. PTI KK NP