NEW DELHI: In an important ruling that would ease payment of insurance compensation to road accident victims, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said a person holding a licence to drive light motor vehicles (LMVs) can drive all kinds of transport vehicles with a gross weight of less than 7,500 kg without the transport department’s endorsement.
In cases of deaths or injuries to others in accidents involving a transport vehicle driven by LMV licence holders, insurance companies were often denied compensation on the technicality that the licences were not suitably stamped by the transport department authorising them to drive transport vehicles.
Solving a 25 year-old confusion over driving licence, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justices Hrishikesh Roy, P S Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra unanimously ruled that “a driver holding a license for LMV class, under Section 10(2)(d) for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight under 7,500 kg, is permitted to operate a ‘Transport Vehicle’ without needing additional authorisation under Section 10(2)(e) of the MV Act specifically for the ‘Transport Vehicle’ class.”
The additional endorsement by the transport department would be required if an LMV licence holder intends to drive a medium or heavy transport or passenger vehicle having a gross weight of over 7,500 kg, it said.
Writing the 126-page judgment, Justice Roy said this authoritative pronouncement would “prevent insurance companies from taking a technical plea to defeat a legitimate claim for compensation involving an insured vehicle weighing below 7,500 kgs driven by a person holding a driving license of a LMV class.”
The bench said, “In the era where autonomous or driverless vehicles are no longer tales of science fiction and app-based platforms are a modern reality, the licencing regime cannot remain static. The amendments that have been carried out by the Indian legislature may not have dealt with all possible concerns.”
“As we were informed by the Learned 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.
AG R Venkataramani had informed the court that multiple amendments to classify LMVs into different classes is under consideration of the govt. Justice Roy said, “Had Parliament acted sooner to amend the MV Act and clearly differentiated between classes, categories and types, much of the uncertainty surrounding driving licences could have been addressed, reducing the need for frequent litigation and an unclear legal terrain.