Supreme Court Reserves Verdict On Ambit Of Driving Licence For Light Motor Vehicles

The legal question 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 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 have said.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud heard Attorney General R Venkataramani, who appeared in the court on behalf of the Centre, and others before reserving the verdict.

Meanwhile, the attorney general apprised the bench, also comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice P S Narasimha, Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Manoj Misra, that the consultations to amend the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988 are "almost complete".

He, however, said the proposed amendments are yet to be tabled in Parliament and added that this can be done only in the winter session of Parliament now.

The bench, which had earlier deferred the hearing after taking note of the Centre's submissions that the Bill amending the MV Act will be put before Parliament, decided to proceed with the case.

"Whether a person holding a driving licence in respect of a light motor vehicle (LMV) could, on the strength of that licence, be entitled to drive a transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class having unladen weight not exceeding 7,500 kg," reads the legal question being dealt with by the court.

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 M/s Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited.

The MV 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 judgment and "the controversy in question needs to be revisited".