The Supreme Court’s three-judge bench has referred to a larger bench the appeals on whether a person holding a light motor vehicle driving licence could be entitled to drive a transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class having unladen weight not exceeding 7500 kg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On a reference made by a two-judge bench, the bunch of appeals were listed before the bench of Justice U.U. Lalit, Justice Ravindra Bhat and Justice P.S. Narasimha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also read:<\/strong> Lakhimpur Kheri case: Supreme Court to hear plea challenging bail to Ashish Mishra on March 15<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The referral order dated 03.05.2018 quoted the conclusions drawn in\u00a0 Mukund Dewangan (supra):\u00a0 Also read:<\/strong> Congress moves Supreme Court against Goa Assembly Speaker for giving recognition to Congress MLAs joining BJP through defection in 2017 Assembly polls<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thereafter certain provisions which were not brought to the notice of the Court deciding Mukund Dewangan (supra) were noted. Those provisions as quoted in the order of reference were as under:\u00a0 Also read: <\/strong> Supreme Court to hear matter related to CBSE Class XII marks computation after 2 weeks<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Advocates appearing for insurance companies invited the attention of the Bench to second provision to Section 15 and Sections 180 and 181 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 apart from those quoted in the referral order. It is submitted that though Section 3 was quoted in the decision in Mukund Dewangan (supra), the latter part of Section 3 and the effect thereof was not noticed by the Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c60. Thus, we answer the questions which are referred to us thus: 60.1. \u201cLight motor vehicle\u201d as defined in Section 2(21) of the Act would include a transport vehicle as per the weight prescribed in Section 2(21) read with Sections 2(15) and 2(48). Such transport vehicles are not excluded from the definition of the light motor vehicle by virtue of Amendment Act 54 of 1994.\u00a0
60.2. A transport vehicle and omnibus, the gross vehicle weight of either of which does not exceed 7500 kg would be a light motor vehicle and also motor car or tractor or a roadroller, \u201cunladen weight\u201d of which does not exceed 7500 kg and holder of a driving licence to drive class of \u201clight motor vehicle\u201d as provided in Section 10(2)(d) is competent to drive a transport vehicle or omnibus, the gross vehicle weight of which does not exceed 7500 kg or a motor car or tractor or roadroller, the \u201cunladen weight\u201d of which does not exceed 7500 kg. That is to say, no separate endorsement on the licence is required to drive a transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class as enumerated above. A licence issued under Section 10(2)(d) continues to be valid after Amendment Act 54 of 1994 and 28-3-2001 in the form.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
60.3. The effect of the amendment made by virtue of Act 54 of 1994 w.e.f. 14-11-1994 while substituting clauses (e) to (h) of Section 10(2) which contained \u201cmedium goods vehicle\u201d in Section 10(2)(e), \u201cmedium passenger motor vehicle\u201d in Section 10(2)(f), \u201cheavy goods vehicle\u201d in Section 10(2)(g) and \u201cheavy passenger motor vehicle\u201d in Section 10(2)(h) with expression \u201ctransport vehicle\u201d as substituted in Section 10(2)(e) related only to the aforesaid substituted classes only. It does not exclude transport vehicle, from the purview of Section 10(2)(d) and Section 2(41) of the Act i.e. light motor vehicle.\u00a0
60.4. The effect of amendment of Form 4 by insertion of \u201ctransport vehicle\u201d is related only to the categories which were substituted in the year 1994 and the procedure to obtain driving licence for transport vehicle of class of \u201clight motor vehicle\u201d continues to be the same as it was and has not been changed and there is no requirement to obtain separate endorsement to drive transport vehicle, and if a driver is holding licence to drive light motor vehicle, he can drive transport vehicle of such class without any endorsement to that effect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c1. Section 4(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as \u201cthe Act\u201d) provides that the minimum age of holding a driving licence for a motor vehicle is 18 years. Section 4(2) provides that no person under the age of 20 years shall drive a transport vehicle in a public place.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Section 7 provides that no person can be granted a learner\u2019s licence to drive a transport vehicle unless he has held a driving licence to drive a light motor vehicle for at least one year.\u00a0
3. Section 14 deals with the currency of licence to drive motor vehicles. A driving licence issued or renewed under this Act,in case a licence to drive a transport vehicle will be effective for a period of three years. The proviso to Section 14(2)(a) provides that in case of a licence to drive a transport vehicle carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature, it shall be effective for a period of one year. However, in case of any other licence, it would be effective for a period of 20 years.\u00a0
4. Rule 5 of The Central Rules Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as \u201cthe Rules\u201d) makes a medical certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner mandatory for in case of a transport vehicle, whereas for a non-transport vehicle, only a self-declaration is sufficient.\u00a0
5. Rule 31, specifically sub-rules (2), (3) and (4) provide for a difference in the syllabus and duration of training between transport and non-transport vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n