New Delhi: Today the Supreme Court of India while answering an important legal point regarding eligibility of LMV licence holder for driving transport vehicles up to 7500 kilogrammes gross weight without load. The decision has been reached at a time when insurance companies and claimants in accident cases with LMV licence holders driving transport vehicles continue to be in a fix.
A five-judge Constitution Bench led by the Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud held that the holders of LMV driving licence, which they were saying indeed enable one to plied transport vehicles under the carrying capacity indicated. This ruling will therefore be beneficial to LMV licence holders since they may have been harassed or taken to court for such an offence.
Before the ruling, insurance companies had been rejecting claims arising from accidents involving LMV licenced drivers of transport vehicles with an appeal that courts were ignoring their protests. It has sparked a collective liability that previously the Supreme Court of Kenya has required insurance firms to pay claims rather than denying them.
The matter had been ongoing after the case of Mukund Devangan v. The case Oriental Insurance Company Limited court, where it made explicit that vehicles in the gross weight not exceeding 7500 kilogrammes are not excluded from the definition of LMVs. The bench went a step further to add that in formulating the decision, it is not just the law that should be looked at, but the consequences of these regulations to millions of drivers who benefit from the previous decision made available to them.
Counsel for the Central Government, Attorney General R. Venkataramani said that deliberations for changes in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 were nearly finalised and may be ready for tabling in the winter session of the Parliament. The court reemphasized the level of the sociological analysis of a law’s effects and how it affects drivers’ income.
After today’s ruling, the central government has assured the change in the Motor Vehicles Act in accordance with the apex court. The court has already entertained seventy six petitions on this legal question ; an original petition was filed by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited.
This development opens a new day for LMV licence holders, where they can drive transport vehicles within the stipulated weight range without the risk of being penalised as well as insurance claimants.