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Synopsis

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court has held a driver holding a license for Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) class, under Section 10(2)(d) of the Motor vehicles Act, for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight under 7,500 kg, is permitted to operate a ‘Transport Vehicle’ without needing additional authorization under Section 10(2)(e) of the MV Act specifically for the ‘Transport Vehicle’ class.

"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.", Court has further said.

A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud along with Justices Hrishikesh Roy, PS Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra has added the additional eligibility criteria specified in the MV Act and MV Rules generally for driving ‘transport vehicles’ would apply only to those intending to operate vehicles with gross vehicle weight exceeding 7,500 kg i.e. ‘medium goods vehicle’, ‘medium passenger vehicle’, ‘heavy goods vehicle’ and ‘heavy passenger vehicle’.

Accordingly, the 2017 judgment of Mukund Dewangan vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd is upheld. In the absence of any obtrusive omission, the decision is not per incuriam, even if certain provisions of the MV Act and MV Rules were not considered in the said judgment, top court has added.

Noticing that the core driving skills expected to be mastered by all drivers are universal – regardless of whether the vehicle falls into “Transport” or “Non-Transport” category, top Court has opined that if the gross vehicle weight is within 7,500 kg - the quintessential common man’s driver Sri, with LMV license, can also drive a “Transport Vehicle”.

Earlier this year Central government was given time till April to formulate law on the issue of allowing a person holding a driving license for light motor vehicles (LMV) being entitled to drive a unladen transport vehicle upto 7,500 kg in weight.

Referring to the 2017 judgment of Mukund Dewangan, court had further opined, "If the Dewangan judgment is felt to be incorrect, government can bring in an amendment..lakhs of drivers across the country may be working on basis of this judgment..This is not just a question of law, but also social impact of law. Road safety has to be balanced with the social purpose of the law and you have to see if this causes serious hardships. We cannot decide issues of social policy in a Constitution Bench... This has to be done at a policy level...It is better these issues are sorted by the government at the policy level rather than us deciding it in this Court..".

This question came to light and was referred to a Constitution Bench as there were some variations in the eligibility terms to get a license under the two categories of “light motor vehicle” and “transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class” as per different provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Case Title: M/s Bajaj Alliance General Insurance Co Ltd vs. Rambha Devi & Ors