Separate Licence for Light Motor Vehicles and Transport Vehicles | Judgement Matrix
Validity of ‘Light Motor Vehicle’ Licence to Drive ‘Transport Vehicle’Judges: D.Y. Chandrachud CJI, Hrishikesh Roy J, P.S. Narasimha J, Pankaj Mithal J, Manoj Misra J
On 6 November 2024, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that holders of Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) licences may also drive Transport Vehicles weighing less than 7500 kg, when not loaded with goods. With this, the Bench upheld Mukund Dewangan v Oriental Insurance Company Limited (2017), which held that a transport vehicle whose gross weight does not exceed 7500 kg would be a LMV. Mukund Dewangan was referred to a larger bench for having overlooked key provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MVA).
The Constitution Bench observed that there was no empirical evidence to suggest that there were significant safety risks in allowing LMV licence holders to drive Transport Vehicles.
The Supreme Court Observer’s judgement matrix presents the main arguments made in Court and the five-judge Bench’s decision in tabular form.
Background
In Mukund Dewangan v Oriental Insurance Company Limited (2017) the Supreme Court was asked to decide if ‘unladen’ Transport Vehicles under Section 10(2)(e) which are less than 7500 kg would be considered a LMV under Section 10(2)(d). That is, would a person holding a licence to drive a light motor vehicle need a separate licence to drive a Transport Vehicle which was less than 7500 kg before any goods were loaded on it? A three-judge bench held that “a transport vehicle and omnibus, the gross vehicle weight of either of which does not exceed 7500 kg would be a light motor vehicle.”
In March 2022, the matter was revisited when the appellants, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance claimed that Mukund Dewangan was wrong. They argued that LMV and Transport Vehicle licences are governed by distinct regulatory standards within the provisions of the MVA and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. These include differences in age eligibility, required medical clearance and specific training requirements for both distinct vehicle categories.
On 8 March 2022, a three-judge bench of (then) Justice U.U. Lalit, S.R. Bhat and P.S. Narasimha referred the case to a larger bench to review the points omitted by the Court in Mukund Dewangan.
The case was listed before a five-judge bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justices Hrishikesh Roy, P.S. Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra. After hearing the case in part over seven days, the Court unanimously held that LMV licence holders can drive transport vehicles whose unladen weight is below 7500 kg. Justice Roy authored the judgement.