The main legal point established in the judgment is that a vehicle certified for a specific purpose, such as carrying goods, cannot be altered for a different purpose without proper certification and approval from the registering authority.

K.S. Radhakrishnan. J.

The question that has come up for consideration in this case is as to whether the registering authority has got legal right to sanction alteration of goods carriage vehicle into a passenger transport vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules.

2. Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the Rules framed thereunder oblige every manufacturer of motor vehicle other than trailers and semi-traitors to submit the prototype of the vehicle to be manufactured for test by the Vehicle Research and Development Establishment of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India or Automotive Research Association of India, Pune, or the Central Machinery Testing and Training Institute, Bundni (MP) or the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun and such other agencies as may be specified by the Central Government for granting a certificate by that agency as to the compliance of provisions of the Act and Rules. After the commencement of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Rules, 1989, all the vehicles are approved for registration, subject to the compliance of prototype test. R.126 of the Central Rules is extracted below for easy reference:

"126. Prototype of every motor vehicle to be subject to test.- On and from the date of commencement of Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 1993, every manufacturer of motor vehicles other than trailors and semi-trailors shall submit the prototype of the vehicle to be manufactured by limine for test by the Vehicle Research and Development Establishment of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, or Automotive Research Association of India, Pune, or the Central Machinery Testing and Training Institute (Budni) M.P. or the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, and such other agencies as may be specified by the Central Government for granting a certificate by that agency as to the compliance of provisions of the Act and these rules."

R.126A also authorises the testing agencies referred to in R.126 to conduct test in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Central Government on vehicles drawn from the production line of the manufacturer to verify whether these vehicles conform to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 or Rules and orders made thereunder. S.52 of the Motor Vehicles Act states that no owner of a motor vehicle shall so alter the vehicle that the particulars contained in the certificate of registration are no longer accurate, unless he has given notice to She registering authority within whose jurisdiction he has the residence or the place of business where the vehicle is normally kept, as the case may be, of the alteration he proposes to make.

3. Applications are being received by the registering authority from individuals seeking permission for change of the commercial vehicle to that of passenger vehicle. Ministry of Surface Transport considered the matter and subsequently, issued a communication No. RT-11011/1/88-TAG dated 31.7.1990 to all the State Transport Authorities and Regional Transport Authorities in the country, which reads as follows:

"lam directed to say that a reference has been received in this Ministry seeking clarification as to whether the transport vehicle like a pick-up van, vi/., Tata 206 (Tatamobile) can be converted into a non-transport vehicle. There has been cases where pickup vans are sought to be converted into passenger cars by making structural changes in the vehicles and applications have been received by some registering authorities from individuals to permit such changes on the ground that they come within the ambit of alternation contemplated by S.52 of the M. V. Act. The pick up vans and similar light commercial vehicles are manufactured after they undergo prototype tests and it is intended to be used only for the purpose for which the prototype have been tested. Unless the prototype testing also covers the use of the vehicles as a passenger car, the same vehicle cannot be altered and got registered as a