The petitioner is a physically challenged person. Aspiring to drive an autorickshaw, he applied for a learner’s licence. He moved this Court since his application was not granted. Ext.P1 judgment was issued directing consideration of his case on the basis of relevant materials. Following this, petitioner produced Ext.P3 medical certificate. Thereupon, Ext.P4 was issued, whereby the petitioner was issued a learner’s licence for invalid carriage. Challenging the same, the petitioner insists that he is entitled to be permitted to ply an autorickshaw and is eligible to be issued a learner’s licence for an autorickshaw.

2. Ext.P3 medical certificate is issued by a doctor, an Eye and ENT Specialist. He has certified that the petitioner is medically fit to hold a driving licence despite post polio paralysis of both legs. The certificate also states that it has been personally ascertained that the movements needed for driving a vehicle is adeguate. Armed with that certificate, the learned counsel for the petitioner urged that in terms of Section 8(4) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 hereinafter referred to as the “Act”, the application of the petitioner ought to have been granted and that the said provision of law enables refusal to grant licence only on the basis of the materials available from the application and from the medical certificate.

3. Pet contra, the learned Government Pleader urged that sub-section 4 of Section 8 of the Act cannot be construed in a limited and strict sense, as is urged on behalf of the petitioner, since any such construction will only result in danger to the public and to the passengers.

4. Sub-sections 3 & 4 of Section 8 of the Act read as follows:

“(3) Every application under sub-section (1) shall be accompanied by a medical certificate in such form as may be prescribed by the Central Government and signed by such registered medical practitioner, as the State Government or any person authorized in this behalf by the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint for this purpose.

Provided that no such medical certificate is required for licence to drive a vehicle other than a transport vehicle.

(4) If, from the application or from the medical certificate referred to in sub-section (3), it appears that the applicant is suffering from any disease or disability which is likely to cause the driving by him of a motor vehicle of the class which he would be authorized by the learner’s licence applied for to drive to be a source of danger to the public or to the passengers, the licensing authority shall refuse to issue the learner’s licence:

Provided that a learner’s licence limited to driving an invalid carriage may be issued to the applicant, if the licensing authority is satisfied that he is fit to drive such a carriage”.

5. The paramount legislative intent in providing the licensing authority with such power, as is provided under sub-section 4 of Section 8, is to ensure that driving a motor vehicle under the authorization of a learner’s licence shall not be a source of danger to the public or to the passengers. This is the purpose for which the licensing authority is directed that it shall refuse to issue learner’s licence in a case where the applicant is suffering from any disease or disability, which is likely to cause the driving by him, to be a source of danger to the public or to the passengers.

6. The disability of a person has different shades in law. The medical certificate can be only with regard to the physical aspects regarding a person. To what extent such physical aspects have an impact on various matters is not, always, for the doctor to say. In the context of laws relating to compensation, while determining the loss of earning capacity, the effect of the injury or of the diminution of the physical powers on the earning capacity of the affected workman is a matter for the statutory authority to decide and the medical evidence remains in the realm of opinion as regar