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Case Law Details:
Civil Appeal No. 5826/2011
Mukund Dewangan (Appellant) vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. etc. (Respondent)
Coram: Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Arun Mishra
Date of Judgment: 11-02-2016

Question before the Court:
Whether for the drivers having licence to drive light motor vehicles there is a necessity of obtaining endorsement to drive the transport vehicle when the transport vehicle is of class of light motor vehicle?

Background:
Section 10 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 deals with the form and contents of the licence to drive. In sub section (2), the classes of vehicles have also been provided separately. Section 10 has been amended vide Act 54/1994 by deleting clauses (e) to (j) related to medium and heavy goods/passenger vehicles by substituting it by the new category “(e) transport vehicle.”

Also the Form No. 4 being Form of Application for Licence to drive a Motor Vehicle prescribed under Rule 14 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 was also amended accordingly wef 28.03.2001.

Therefore the question arose was whether intendment appears not to touch the classification of light motor vehicle which has to be understood in the light of the definition in section 2(21) of the Act of 1988 and it was never intended that the transport vehicles of light motor vehicle category should be taken out of the purview of the existing classification of light motor vehicles and the transport vehicles as inserted in section 10 has to be understood in the light of the amendment brought about vide deletion of the provisions of medium goods vehicle, medium passenger motor vehicle, heavy goods vehicle and heavy passenger motor vehicle.

Held:

The Court noted the conflict of the decisions given by it with respect to the pre-amended position and also after amendment in the Forms in 2001 as under:

·        In Ashok Gangadhar Maratha in para 10 , S. Iyyapan v. United India Insurance Co., Kulwant Singh & Ors. v. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. , and Nagashetty v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & Ors., the view taken by the Supreme Court was that when driver is holding licence to drive light motor vehicle, he is competent to drive transport vehicle of that category; 

·        In New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Prabhu Lal the view taken by the Supreme Court was that before 2001 also it was necessary for a driver possessing licence to drive Light Motor Vehicle to obtain endorsement to drive transport vehicle of that category;

·        In National Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Annappa Irappa Nesaria , the Court laid down that before 28.3.2001 there was no necessity for holder of licence to drive light motor vehicle to have endorsement to drive transport vehicle;

·        In New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Roshanben Rahemansha Fakir& Anr. and Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Angad Kol & Ors., the view taken was that it is necessary for holder of light motor vehicle licence to obtain specific endorsement on licence, to drive transport vehicle of the light motor vehicle weight as provided in section 2(41).

In view of aforesaid conflict, the Court referred the following questions to the Chief Justice to constitute a larger Bench in order to resolve conflict in the views expressed by different Benches of the Supreme Court:

1   What is the meaning to be given to the definition of “light motor vehicle” as defined in section 2(21) of the MV Act ? Whether transport vehicles are excluded from it ?

2   Whether ‘transport vehicle’ and ‘omnibus’ the “gross vehicle weight” of either of which does not exceed 7500 kgs. would be a “light motor vehicle” and also motor-car or tractor or a road roller, “unladen weight” of which does not exceed 7500 kgs. and holder of licence to drive class of “light motor vehicle” as provided in section 10(2)(d) would be competent to drive a transport vehicle or omnibus, the “gross vehicle weight” of which does not exceed 7500 kgs. or a motor-car or tractor or road roller, the “unladen weight” of which does not exceed 7500 kgs.?

3   What is the effect of the amendment made by virtue of Act No.54 of 1994 w.e.f. 14.11.1994 while substituting clauses (e) to (h) of section 10(2) which contained “medium goods vehicle”, “medium passenger motor vehicle”, “heavy goods vehicle” and “heavy passenger motor vehicle” by “transport vehicle”? Whether insertion of expression ‘transport vehicle’ under section 10(2)(e) is related to said substituted classes only or it also excluded transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class from purview of Sections 10(2)(d) and 2(41) of the Act?

4   What is the effect of amendment of the Form 4 as to operation of the provisions contained in section 10 as amended in the year 1994 and whether procedure to obtain driving licence for transport vehicle of class of “Light Motor Vehicle” has been changed ?

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Whether Drivers having LMV licence is required to obtain prior endorsement to drive transport vehicles-SC Referes question to Larger Bench | 16-02-2016 |