Mr. Humayun Khan,Consultant General Insurance Council
Special Leave Petitions were filed by Bajaj Allianz, Oriental Insurance Co., HDFC Ergo and others in the matter of Bajaj Allianz Vs. Rambha Devi before the Constitution Bench of the hon’ble SC. The matter came up for hearing on 18th July 2023. The basic issue involved in the SLPs is “whether a person holding a driving licence in respect of Light motor vehicle could on the strength of that licence, be entitled to drive a transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class.”
Brief history of the issue is that earlier in 2017 a three Judge Bench of the SC, in the matter of Mukund Dewangan Vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd., had ruled that if a driver is holding licence to drive a light motor vehicle, he can drive transport vehicle of such class (those having GVW less than 7500 Kgs) without any need for a transport vehicle licence or an endorsement to that effect.
Subsequently, when a similar matter was referred to another three Judge Bench of SC, in view of the earlier judgement in Mukund Dewangan case (which had also been decided by a three Judge Bench), in their order on 8th of March 2023, they deemed it appropriate to refer the issue to the Constitution Bench of SC for a final decision.
Mukund Dewangan Vs. Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. judgement in 2017 had gone against the interest of the Insurance Companies as after this ruling they could not deny liability on the grounds of the driver not having transport vehicle licence in case of LMV transport vehicles. Therefore, many affected insurance companies joined in filing SLPs before the Constitution Bench. More than 75 similar cases were tied with Bajaj Allianz Vs. Rambha Devi matter when it came up for hearing before the Constitution Bench of SC on 18th July 2023.
The GI Council extended its full support and guidance to the member insurance companies in filing the SLPs as the issue involved was important and affected the entire general insurance industry. The Council decided to take Ld. Solicitor General, Mr Tushar Mehta on board as the designated Counsel for the insurers. He was given full brief on the case.
The Constitution Bench of SC heard the matter on 18th, 19th and 20th of July 2023. The senior advocates of the insurance companies made strong arguments in favour of the insurers stating that the parameters for issuance of a transport vehicle licence is much more stringent than that for LMV license. Both the eligibility age and the no of hours required for training are higher for issue of a transport vehicle license than that for LMV licence. LMV license can be obtained at 18 years while minimum age to apply for a transport vehicle licence is 20 years. Also to apply for a transport vehicle license a person must have held an LMV licence for at least one year.
Ld. Solicitor General pleaded for setting aside the 2017 judgement, which permitted licence holders of light motor vehicle (LMV) to drive transport vehicles. It was beyond logic and reason that as per this ruling even an autorickshaw driver could be considered authorized to drive a bus, a goods carriage or even a road-roller as long as its GVW did not exceed 7500 kg. Such a situation could be life threating for thousands of people.
The senior counsels representing the respondent put up counter arguments to justify the position held in Mukund Dewangan Vs.OIC Judgement. They contended that GVW has always been the basic criteria on which the licensing regime is based.
The hon’ble SC requested the Ld. Attorney General, Mr R Venkataramani to obtain opinion of the Central Government on this issue. The next date of hearing is 13th Sep 2023.