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Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board vs. Penjarla Vijay Kumar & Ors. Etc.

Not available · 2025 INSC 1452Decided 18 Dec 2025
Not available
Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah · Justice S.V.N. Bhatti

Background

The Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board issued notifications in 2022 to fill 325 driver posts (Police Constable Drivers and Fire Services Driver Operators), requiring candidates to have held a valid Light/Heavy Motor Vehicle driving licence continuously for at least two years as on the date of notification. Several candidates whose licences had lapsed and were later renewed were barred from the written examination for not meeting the "continuous" requirement. They challenged this before the High Court, and a Single Judge (relying on the idea that a renewed licence's validity relates back to its expiry date, leaving no real "break") ruled in their favour and directed the Board to treat them as continuously licensed. A Division Bench of the High Court summarily upheld this without giving independent reasons, prompting the Board's appeal to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court closely analysed Sections 14 and 15 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as amended in 2019, and found that the earlier proviso which had let an expired licence remain "effective" for 30 days after expiry was deliberately deleted by the 2019 amendment, while a separate provision merely extended the renewal application window (from 30 days to one year). Reading the two provisions together and applying settled rules that a deliberate legislative deletion must be given effect, the Court held that a licence today does not continue to be valid even for a single day after its expiry (renewal takes effect only from the date of actual renewal, not the date of expiry) so candidates with a gap between expiry and renewal did not, in fact, hold their licences "continuously" for two years as the notifications required. It set aside the High Court's judgments and dismissed the underlying writ petitions, while directing the Board to complete the long-delayed recruitment process within three months, with no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

Since the 2019 amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, a lapsed driving licence does not automatically stay valid during the gap before renewal. Anyone relying on "continuous" licence-holding for a job eligibility requirement must ensure there is no actual gap between expiry and renewal, because the law no longer treats a later renewal as covering that gap.

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

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