In a relief for commercial vehicle drivers, the Supreme Court today held that a person holding a driving licence for a light motor vehicle (LMV) is also entitled to drive a transport vehicle with an unladen weight not exceeding 7,500 kg.
The judgement of a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud is a jolt to insurance companies which had been rejecting claims if accidents involved transport vehicles of a particular weight and if the drivers were not authorised to drive them as per legal stipulation.
“There is no empirical data that LMV driving licence holders are responsible for the rise in road accidents in the country,” Justice Hrishikesh Roy, who wrote the unanimous verdict for the Bench, said.
He said the LMV driving licence holders, who spent maximum time behind the wheels, are seeking an answer from the court and their grievances cannot be rejected on technical grounds.
Besides the CJI and Justice Roy, the Bench also comprised Justices P S Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra.
The bench had reserved its verdict on August 21, 2024 on the vexatious legal issue after Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, had submitted that the consultations to amend the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988 are “almost complete”.
The top court asked the Centre to complete the exercise of amending the law at the earliest.
The legal question, which was answered by the Bench, was whether a person holding a driving licence for a light motor vehicle (LMV) is also entitled to drive a transport vehicle with an unladen weight not exceeding 7,500 kg.
The issue has given rise to various disputes over payment of claims by insurance companies in accident cases involving transport vehicles being driven by those possessing licences to drive LMVs.
The insurance firms have been alleging that the motor accident claim tribunals (MACTs) and the courts have been passing orders asking them to pay insurance claims, disregarding their objections with regard to the LMV driving licence.
The courts have been adopting a pro-insured approach while deciding insurance claim disputes, the insurance firms had said.
The question was referred to the larger bench on March 8, 2022 by a three-judge bench headed by Justice U U Lalit (since retired).
The question arose from the apex court’s 2017 verdict in the case of Mukund Dewangan versus Oriental Insurance Company Limited.
In the Mukund Dewangan case, a three-judge bench of the court had held that transport vehicles, the gross weight of which does not exceed 7,500 kg, are not excluded from the definition of an LMV.
The judgment was accepted by the Centre and the rules were amended to align those with the verdict.
On July 18 last year, the Constitution bench commenced hearing a total of 76 petitions to deal with the legal question.
The lead petition was filed by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited.
The Motor Vehicle Act provides for different regimes for the granting of driving licences for different categories of vehicles. While referring the matter to the larger bench, it was said that certain provisions of the law were not noticed by the apex court in the Mukund Dewangan judgement and “the controversy in question needs to be revisited”. (PTI)
