The main legal point established in the given judgment is the validity of the driving license and the liability of the Insurance Company under the Motor Vehicle Act.

ORDER :

The claimant has been served in the present matter. However, driver against whom, the issue has been raised could not be served. Considering the legal issue involved the appeal could be heard in his absence, hence finally heard.

1. Challenge has been made against the judgement and award dated 16.11.2018 passed by the learned Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (Main), Mehsana in MACP No. 953 of 2011.

2. The grounds raised in this petition are that learned Tribunal has not appreciated the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act more particularly Section 41(4) read with Section 3,10, 14(2) & Section 2(47) of the Act and has completely by overlooking the provisions, erred in observing that there is no breach of condition of policy by owner of the vehicle.

3. Mr. Maulik Shelat, learned advocate appearing for the appellant has submitted that RTO officer who was examined by the Insurance Company at Exh.39 has deposed that driver of the goods carriage was not holding the license to drive the transport vehicle and therefore, he is not entitled to drive the same. He has further submitted that certified copy of the driving license was produced at Exh.41 to substantiate that driver was not authorized to drive the transport vehicle as he was holding only license to drive LMV (Light Motor Vehicle) and submitted that the obligation upon the driver to obtain necessary endorsement on the license to drive the transport vehicle and ultimately though, it is duty of the owner to verify the license of his driver before handing him over LMV Transport vehicle and submitted that it is an act of complete violation of the provisions of M.V. Act.

3.1 Mr.Shelat, learned advocate has referred to the observations of the learned Tribunal. The contention was raised before the learned Tribunal with regard to the driving license of respondent No.2 who is owner of the Truck No. GJ-2-Z-390 and he was opponent No.1 before the Tribunal in M.A.C.P. No. 953 of 2011. Before the learned Tribunal the contention was raised that at the time of accident, the driver of the truck was not possessing valid and effective driving license to drive LCV/D.Van therefore, the Insurance Company is not liable to pay the compensation. Before the Tribunal, Insurance Company had examined-Bhaveshkumar Somabhai Damor at Exh. 39 who at the relevant time was Assistant Inspector in the office of the Regional Transport Officer, Mahesana and according to the witness - Dilipji Mansangji Thakore was holding driving license bearing No. GJ/02/113789/2002 issued for the period from 10.7.2002 to 9.7.2022. As per his deposition, the driving license was issued for the purpose of Non-Transport of two wheeler and four wheeler. He has produced the certificate of driving license of the driver vide exh. 41 while in cross-examination, the witness- RTO Officer admitted that as per exh. 40 unladen weight of the vehicle 3545 kgs. which is less than 7500 kg. is to be considered as Light Motor Vehicle.

4. Learned Tribunal has referred the case of Mukund Dewangan Vs. Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. reported in AIR 2017 SC 3558, the learned apex Court has observed as under :-

“45. Transport vehicle has been defined in section 2(47) of the Act, to mean a public service vehicle, a goods carriage, an educational institution bus or a private service vehicle. Public service vehicle has been defined in section 2(35) to mean any motor vehicle used or adapted to be used for the carriage of passengers for hire or reward and includes a maxicab, a motor cab, contract carriage, and stage carriage. Goods carriage which is also a transport vehicle is defined in section 2(14) to mean a motor vehicle constructed or adapted for use solely for the carriage of goods, or any motor vehicle not so constructed or adapted when used for the carriage of goods. It was rightly submitted that a person holding licence to drive light motor vehicle registered for private use, who is driving a similar vehicle which is registered or insured, for the p