P.V. ASHA, J.

1. Whether an appeal filed under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) should be accompanied by a certified copy of the award/judgment or whether it is sufficient to file the free copy issued under Section 168(2) of the Act, is the question referred to the Full Bench.

2. In the judgment reported in Habeeb vs. Sebastian T.C. ILR 2010 (4) Kerala 940, a Division Bench of this court, after elaborately considering the various provisions in the Motor Vehicles Act, Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules and Civil Rules of Practice directed that all appeals preferred under Section 173 of the Act after 1.1.2011 shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the award and that appeals accompanied by free copy of the award shall not be entertained after 1.1.2011.

3. Another Division Bench in its order dated 8.7.2011 in an unnumbered MACA of 2011, found that the free copy of the award is the statutory right of the claimant and therefore such free copy issued must be held to be sufficient for all purposes including filing of appeal and disagreed with the directives issued in Habeeb vs. Sebastian (supra). This Division Bench was of the view that