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Jagdish Kumar Sood v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 209Decided 6 Mar 2018
Civil Appeal No. 240 of 2017
Chief Justice Dipak Misra · Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Dr. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud

Background

The owner of a vehicle involved in a fatal road accident appealed after the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal and the High Court had absolved the insurance company of liability. The Tribunal's reasoning was that the vehicle was a "Light Goods Vehicle" (a transport vehicle), while the driver only held a licence to drive a "Light Motor Vehicle," and without a specific authorization to drive a transport vehicle, the insurer could not be made liable. The High Court, while increasing the compensation amount payable to the deceased's family, did not disturb this finding that let the insurer off the hook, leaving the owner to bear the liability alone.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the issue was already settled by a three-judge bench decision in Mukund Dewangan vs. Oriental Insurance Company Limited, (2017) 14 SCC 663, which clarified that a "light motor vehicle" under Section 2(21) of the Motor Vehicles Act includes transport vehicles and omnibuses whose gross vehicle weight does not exceed 7500 kg, and that a licence to drive a "light motor vehicle" under Section 10(2)(d) is sufficient to drive such vehicles without any separate endorsement. Applying this settled position, the Court found no basis to treat the driver's licence as inadequate, and therefore no basis to absolve the insurer. The appeal was allowed, the Tribunal's order absolving the insurer was set aside, and liability was made joint and several between the insurer, the owner, and the driver, with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

A driving licence authorizing a person to drive a "light motor vehicle" is sufficient to also drive a transport vehicle or goods vehicle within the 7500 kg weight limit: insurers cannot deny a claim merely because the licence doesn't separately mention "transport vehicle."

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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