The Rest of the Motor Vehicles Act I: Licensing

Losing a licence

• Sections 16 and 17. Revocation on the ground of disease or disability, and appeals against orders refusing or revoking.
• Section 18. Licences to drive vehicles belonging to the Central Government.
• Section 19. The power of the licensing authority to disqualify a person from holding a licence, or to revoke it.
• Section 20. The power of a court to disqualify.
• Sections 21 and 22. Suspension of a licence in certain cases, and suspension or cancellation on conviction.
• Section 23. The effect of a disqualification order.
• Sections 24 and 25. Endorsement on a licence, and the transfer of an endorsement and issue of a licence free from endorsement.

Sections 19 to 25 are the reason section 150(2)(a)(ii) speaks of a person "disqualified for holding or obtaining a driving licence during the period of disqualification". Disqualification is an event with a beginning and an end, recorded on the licence.

Records and rules

• Section 26. Maintenance of State Registers of Driving Licences, so that a disqualification in one district is known in another.
• Section 27. Rules by the Central Government.
• Section 28. Rules by the State Government.

Where this touches the claim

In the insurer's defence. Section 150(2)(a)(ii) allows a policy condition excluding driving by a person not duly licensed, or disqualified. Swaran Singh requires the insurer to prove a breach by the insured and one fundamental enough to have contributed to the accident, and holds that a learner's licence does not defeat the third party's claim.

In negligence. Driving without the licence the law requires is evidence to be weighed with the rest; it is not, by itself, proof that the driving caused the harm.

In the criminal provisions. Section 181 punishes driving in contravention of section 3 or section 4, and section 180 punishes allowing an unauthorised person to drive; these are in chapter [The Rest of the Motor Vehicles Act V: Offences and Miscellaneous].

A worked example

Sudhir, aged seventeen, rides his uncle's 150cc motor cycle to college with the uncle's knowledge and knocks down a pedestrian.

Has an offence been committed under Chapter II? Yes, two. Sudhir contravenes section 4(1), because he is under eighteen and the machine is not a motor cycle of engine capacity not exceeding 50cc; and the uncle contravenes section 5, which forbids an owner or person in charge to cause or permit a person who does not satisfy section 3 or section 4 to drive.

Does that defeat the pedestrian's claim? No. The claim lies under section 166 against the owner and the insurer, and the fixed sum under section 164 is payable without proof of fault at all.

Can the insurer refuse to pay? Only within section 150(2)(a)(ii), and on National Insurance Co. Ltd v. Swaran Singh, (2004) 3 SCC 297, it must prove that the owner was negligent and failed to take reasonable care to see that the vehicle was driven by a duly licensed driver, and that the breach was fundamental enough to have contributed to the accident. On these facts the uncle knew, so the insurer may well succeed; and even then the Tribunal may direct it to pay the pedestrian and recover from the uncle.

What if Sudhir had held a learner's licence? Swaran Singh holds that the insurer remains liable to satisfy the decree where the vehicle was driven on a learner's licence.

Quick revision

1. Section 3: an effective driving licence for the class of vehicle, and a specific entitlement for a transport vehicle.
2. Section 4: eighteen generally, sixteen for a motor cycle not exceeding 50cc, twenty for a transport vehicle subject to section 18.
3. Section 5: the owner or person in charge must not cause or permit an ineligible person to drive; this is the section the insurer's licence defence really turns on.
4. Sections 6 to 15: one licence, learner's licences, grant, form, additions, driving schools, effectiveness, currency and renewal.
5. Sections 16 to 25: revocation for disease or disability, appeals, disqualification by the licensing authority and by a court, suspension, cancellation on conviction, effect of disqualification, and endorsements.
6. Sections 26 to 28: State Registers of Driving Licences, and rule-making by the Central and State Governments.

Test yourself

1. What does Chapter II of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 provide, and why does it matter to a motor accident claim? Chapter II, sections 3 to 28, governs the licensing of drivers. Section 3 forbids driving a motor vehicle in a public place without an effective driving licence authorising the driving of that vehicle, and requires a specific entitlement on the licence for a transport vehicle other than a motor cab or motor cycle hired for the driver's own use or rented under a scheme under section 75(2). Section 4 fixes the age limits: eighteen years generally, sixteen for a motor cycle with engine capacity not exceeding 50cc, and twenty for a transport vehicle subject to section 18. Section 5 places a duty on the owner or person in charge not to cause or permit an ineligible person to drive. Sections 6 to 15 deal with the holding, grant, form, currency and renewal of licences and with driving schools; sections 16 to 25 with revocation for disease or disability, appeals, disqualification by the licensing authority and by a court, suspension, cancellation on conviction and endorsements; and sections 26 to 28 with the State Registers of Driving Licences and rule-making.

It matters to a claim because section 150(2)(a)(ii) permits an insurer to rely on a policy condition excluding driving by a person not duly licensed or disqualified. In National Insurance Co. Ltd v. Swaran Singh, (2004) 3 SCC 297, the Supreme Court held that the mere absence, fakeness or invalidity of a licence is not by itself a defence: the insurer must prove a breach by the insured, namely that the owner failed to exercise reasonable care in seeing that the vehicle was driven by a duly licensed driver, and the breach must be so fundamental as to have contributed to the accident. Where the driver held a learner's licence the insurer remains liable.