The petitioner, a doctor by profession, purchased a Mahindra Camper as per Ext.P1 sale certificate and applied for registration. The statutory authority required that the vehicle be painted in Highway yellow colour in terms of R.304 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules, 1999, hereinafter referred to as "the Rules". This Writ Petition is filed challenging the said stand of the statutory authority and seeking a declaration that R.304 need not be complied with for the registration of the vehicle in question. A direction that no insistence shall be made to conform to R.304 of the Rules is also sought for.

2. By interim order dated 18.12.2003, the second respondent was directed to register the vehicle on the undertaking "of the petitioner that it will be used only for personal use of the petitioner and not for the purpose of carrying goods. That interim order was issued, essentially, on the basis of-the undertaking of the petitioner in para (3) of the Writ Petition that he does not propose to use the said vehicle as a goods carriage vehicle. Following that interim order, the petitioner's vehicle was registered.

3. R.304 of the Rules provides that every goods vehicle shall be painted in Highway yellow colour, either fully or its front and rear portion. In understanding the scope of the said Rule, the term ‘goods vehicle’ has to be understood, following the definitions in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, hereinafter "the Act", for short. S.2(14) of the Act provides that 'goods carriage' means any 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. The use of the word 'means' in the said definition clause excludes any other meaning being attached to the term 'goods carriage'. There is nothing in the context requiring otherwise. The use of the word 'solely' in the said definition shows that when the construction or adaptation of a motor vehicle is not for the sole purpose of carriage of goods, the said vehicle cannot be treated as a goods carriage for the purpose of the Act or the Rules. Having particular regard to the sweep of sub-ss.13 and 14 of S.2 of the Act and the terms of R.304 of the Rules, it is predominantly clear that a vehicle, which is not solely used for the carriage of goods referable to S.2(13), cannot be required to be painted in Highway yellow colour.

4. 'Goods' is defined in S.2(13) of the Act. That is an inclusive definition by which, anything carried by a vehicle other than equipments ordinarily used with the vehicle, is treated as goods and it includes livestock when carried. But it does not include living persons. The definition bf 'goods' specifically excludes luggage or personal effects carried in a motor car or in a trailer attached to a motor car or the personal luggage of passengers traveling in the vehicle.

5. However, the description Pf the vehicle in Ext.P1 is as a light goods vehicle (LGV) and it is further stated therein that it is of the goods category. So much so, it may not be appropriate for this Court in writ jurisdiction to go into the intricate question of any distinction between the nature of the user of the vehicle of the petitioner and to put it under any particular category, without the statutory authority under the Rules, first addressing itself on the issue and taking a decision in accordance with law. Sufficient power to decide such issue inheres in the Government, having regard to the fact that the Rules are framed by the Government and the Government are, under R.334 of the Rules, conferred with the power to exempt, any motor vehicle or class of motor vehicles from all or any of the provisions of the Rules in Chapter VII, in which R.304 occurs.

6. In the aforesaid circumstances, this Writ Petition is disposed of directing that on an application by the petitioner to the competent authority in the Government, it will be first decided as to whether the vehicle of the petition