Supreme Court resumes hearing on issue of driving licence for LMV

The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to resume its hearing on the legal question of whether a person holding a driving licence for a light motor vehicle is also entitled to drive a transport vehicle with an unladen weight not exceeding 7,500 kg.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took the decision after Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, said though the consultations to amend the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act 1988 were almost complete, but the proposed amendments are yet to be tabled before Parliament.

The top most law officer said the amended Bill can be presented before Parliament in the Winter session and suggested the bench either defer the hearing till it is cleared by the House or proceed with the matters.

The bench, also comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy, P S Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra, said as it has already heard the matter for some time and hence, it will proceed with the hearing without waiting for Parliament to clear amendments in the MV Act.

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 having licences to drive LMVs.

Earlier on April 16, the bench had deferred the hearing on the issue after the attorney general submitted a note indicating that the consultations carried out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have culminated in proposals for amending the MV Act that will be put before the newly-constituted Lok Sabha following general elections.

"By its communication dated April 15, 2024, the Ministry has placed on record the details of the proposed amendment to the statute.

"In view of the impending General Elections, the Attorney General for India requests that these proceedings may be deferred until the last week of July 2024 so as to enable the Union government to bring forth a proposal for the amendment of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 before the newly constituted Parliament following the General Elections," the bench had said.

The impact, if any, of the amendments which are proposed on the reference will be decided in the course of the hearing, it had said while deferring the hearing.

Prior to this, the apex court had asked the Centre if a change in law is warranted on the legal question of whether a person holding a driving licence for a light motor vehicle is entitled to legally drive a transport vehicle of a particular weight. It had also sought the assistance of the attorney general in dealing with the legal question.

Observing that these are policy issues impacting "the livelihood of lakhs of people", the court had said the government needs to take a "fresh look" at the matter, which needs to be taken up at the policy level.

"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 bench had said ascertaining the position of the union ministry will be necessary after it was told that the apex court's 2017 verdict in the case of Mukund Dewangan versus Oriental Insurance Company Limited was accepted by the Centre and rules were amended to align those with the judgment.

In the Mukund Dewangan case, a three-judge bench of the top 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.

"There may be lakhs of drivers across the country who are working on the basis of the Dewangan judgment. This is not a constitutional issue. It is purely a statutory issue," the bench had said.

"This is not just the question of law, but also the social impact of the 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," it had said.

On July 18 last year, the Constitution bench commenced hearing as many as 76 petitions to deal with the legal question.

The lead petition was filed by M/s Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited.

The Motor Vehicles Act provides for different regimes for the granting of driving licences for different categories of vehicles. The matter was referred to the larger bench on March 8, 2022 by a three-judge bench headed by Justice U U Lalit (since retired).

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".