law: 9. Duration and renewal of licence.-
  (1) A licence shall not be transferable or heritable.
  (2) Where a licensee is unable to function as such for any reason or where a licensee dies, the licensee or, as the case may be, the legal representative of such licensee shall forthwith report the matter in the prescribed manner to the licensing authority and notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home concerned may continue to be maintained and shall be deemed to be a licensed psychiatric hospital or licensed psychiatric nursing home, as the case may be,-
  (a) for a period of three months from the date of such report or in the case of the death of the licensee from the date of his death, or
  (b) if an application made in accordance with sub-section (3) for a licence is pending on the expiry of the period specified in clause (a), till the disposal of such application.
  (3) The legal representative of the licensee referred to in sub-section (2), shall, if he intends to continue the maintenance of the psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home after the expiry of the period referred to in sub-section (2), make, at least one month before the expiry of such period, an application to the licensing authority for the grant of a fresh licence for the maintenance of such hospital or nursing home, as the case may be, and the provisions of section 8 shall apply in relation to such application as they apply in relation to an application made under section 7.
  (4) Every licence shall, unless revoked earlier under section 11, be valid for a period of five years from the date on which it is granted.
  (5) A licence may be renewed, from time to time, on an application made in that behalf to the licensing authority, in such form and accompanied by such fee, as may be prescribed, and every such application shall be made not less than one year before the date on which the period of validity of the licence is due to expire: Provided that the renewal of a licence shall not be refused unless the licensing authority is satisfied that-
  (i) the licensee is not in a position to provide in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home, the minimum facilities prescribed for the admission, treatment and care therein of mentally ill persons; or
  (ii) the licensee is not in a position to provide a medical officer who is a psychiatrist to take charge of the psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home; or
  (iii) the licensee has contravened any of the provisions of this Act or any rule made thereunder.