Driving Licence: New order on driving license. The Supreme Court has given an order on the LMV driving license. Which is going to affect many car owners.
The matter was before the Constitution Bench of 5 judges, including Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, Justice Hrishikesh Roy, Justice PS Narasimha, Justice Pankaj Mittal and Justice Manoj Mishra. During the hearing, the bench decided that if the total weight of the vehicle is less than 7500 kg, then the LMV driving license holder can drive that vehicle. The court emphasised that no serious data or data related to road safety has been presented in this case, which proves that LMV license holders are becoming the major cause of road accidents due to driving transport vehicles.
Earlier, a three-judge bench in the Mukund Devangan case had also ruled that separate approval is not required for an LMV licence holder to drive a transport vehicle weighing less than 7500 kg. In 2022, the matter was referred by the coordination bench to a 5-judge bench for detailed consideration.
The apex court also said during the course of the case that the issue has been consulted with the state governments. Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court that related amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 (MVA) were being discussed with the state governments, but no concrete outcome was reached. The court, after considering the same, decided to decide the matter on merits and reserved its order on August 21.
After this decision, LMV driving license holders will now be able to drive transport vehicles weighing less than 7500 kg without any special approval, thereby promoting livelihood opportunities for them and not having any adverse impact on road safety. In this judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of Mukund Devangan vs Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. (2017) while interpreting the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MV Act). The Court also considered the livelihood issues of transport vehicle drivers and took a sensitive view on the subject.