Supreme Court of India
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that a person holding a driving licence for a light motor vehicle is also legally entitled to drive a transport vehicle having unladen weight not exceeding 7,500 kilograms.
A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices Hrishikesh Roy, P S Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra, said if transport vehicle weight is within 7500 kgs then a LMV license holder can also drive the same transport vehicle, since no data has been shown to support a view otherwise.
The licensing regime under the Motor Vehicle Act and the MV Rules, when read as a whole, does not provide for a separate endorsement for operating a ‘Transport Vehicle’, if a driver already holds a LMV license, the bench said.
"For licensing purposes, LMVs and transport vehicles are not entirely separate classes. An overlap exists between the two. The special eligibility requirements will however continue to apply for, inter alia, e-carts, e-rickshaws, and vehicles carrying hazardous goods," the bench said.
The bench felt this judgment would help in making insurance claims by a LMV holder who is found driving a vehicle weighing within 7500 kgs.
"In an era where autonomous or driver-less vehicles are no longer tales of science fiction and app-based passenger platforms are a modern reality, the licensing regime cannot remain static," the bench said.
The amendments that have been carried out by the by the Indian legislature may not have dealt with all possible concerns, it noted.
"As we were informed by the Attorney General that a legislative exercise is underway, we hope that a comprehensive amendment to address the statutory lacunae will be made with necessary corrective measures," the bench said.
Justice Roy, who authored the 126-page judgment on behalf of the bench, said the road safety is a serious public issue globally and 1.7 lakh persons were killed in India in 2023 due to road accidents.
But to say that it was because of LMV drivers is unsubstantiated, the bench said, highlighting reasons such as non compliance with seat belt rules, use of mobiles, being inebriated etc for accidents.
It pointed out none of the parties in this case has produced any empirical data to demonstrate that the LMV driving licence holder, driving a 'Transport Vehicle’, is a significant cause for road accidents.
"Concerns about road safety are often shaped by individual biases without the opinion being founded on any empirical data. It is easy to overlook the full spectrum of factors that contribute to road safety," the bench said.
On the perception of the capability of drivers on the road, the bench cited comedian George Carlin, who made the humorous observation to the effect that: ‘Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?’
The genesis of the issue stemmed from disputes regarding the payment of claims by insurance companies for accidents involving ‘transport vehicles’ operated by individuals holding licenses to drive ‘light motor vehicles’. Besides road safety, it also involved the livelihood concern of a large number of drivers of transport vehicles.
Interpreting the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the bench confirmed the judgment in Mukund Dewangan Vs Oriental Insurance Company Limited (2017).
"In our interpretation and understanding, it would be logical to hold that the additional licensing requirements will have no application for the LMV class of vehicles but will be needed only for such ‘Transport Vehicles’, which by virtue of their gross weight fall in the Medium and Heavy category. Such a construction would also fulfill the legislative purpose which is to ensure road safety by requiring only those individuals who intend to operate medium and heavy vehicles, to satisfy the additional licensing criteria," the bench said.
The bench held the age restrictions outlined in Section 4 of the MV Act, the requirement of a medical certificate, and the criteria under Section 7 should reasonably apply only for the medium and heavy transport vehicles whose gross weight will be above 7500 Kg.
"Such an interpretation would fulfill the objective of the MV Act to provide compensation to victims of road accidents while maintaining a commensurate licensing regime for drivers," the bench said.