LMV licensees can drive small transport vehicles: Supreme Court
A person holding a light motor vehicles (LMV) driving licence is entitled to drive a “transport vehicle of light motor vehicle class” having an unladen weight not exceeding 7,500 kg, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday.
“A driver holding a license for LMV class, under Section 10(2)(d) for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight under 7,500 kg, is permitted to operate a ‘transport vehicle’ without needing additional authorisation under Section 10(2)(e) of the MV (Motor Vehicles) Act specifically for the ‘Transport Vehicle’ class,” a five-judge Constitution Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said while deciding a batch of 78 petitions.
“For licensing purposes, LMVs and transport vehicles are not entirely separate classes. An overlap exists between the two. The special eligibility requirements will however continue to apply for, inter alia, e-carts, e-rickshaws, and vehicles carrying hazardous goods,” said the Bench, which included Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice PS Narasimha, Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Manoj Misra.
No empirical data was adduced before it to show that LMV license holders driving transport vehicles were a significant cause of road accidents, the Bench noted.
“The additional eligibility criteria specified in the MV Act and MV Rules generally for driving ‘transport vehicles’ would apply only to those intending to operate vehicles with gross vehicle weight exceeding 7,500 kg i.e. ‘medium goods vehicle’, ‘medium passenger vehicle’, ‘heavy goods vehicle’ and ‘heavy passenger vehicle’,” it clarified.
