Court reaffirmed that a vehicle under 7500 KG is a Light Motor Vehicle requiring only an LMV license, and claimants are entitled to enhanced compensation under Section 164 of the Motor Vehicles Act.

JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP JAIN, J.

1. The instant appeal under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 has been preferred by the insurer of the offending Auto No.UP-73-A- 0171 against the impugned judgment and award dated 18.07.2007 passed by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal/District Judge, Kaushambi in Claim Petition No. 741 of 1999 ( Sirajulhasan Vs. Shivendra Kumar Vishwakarma and others ), whereby for the untimely death of Sebu Hasan in an accident that occurred on 03.07.1999, a compensation of Rs.2,25,000/- has been awarded to claimants(father and mother) which has been ordered to be indemnified by the insurer of the offending Auto No.UP-73-A-0171.

2. Learned counsel for the appellant insurance company submitted that the offending Auto No. UP-73-A-0171 was a transport(commercial) vehicle and for it's driving, a driving license having an endorsement to drive transport vehicle was required, which was not there in the driving license of Shivendra Kumar Vishwakarma, who was the owner-cum- driver of the offending Auto No.UP-73-A-0171, as such, the auto was being driven in violation of the terms and conditions of the insurance policy, as such, the insurance company was not liable to indemnify the claimants regarding the compensation awarded to them.

3. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondent-claimants submitted that since the gross vehicle weight (GVW) of the offending auto was below 7500 KG it falls in the category of Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) and for driving it, no endorsement of transport vehicle in the driving license was required as per the law laid down by the Apex Court in M/s Bajaj Alliance General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Rambha Devi & Ors. (2025) 3 SCC 95 (By 5 Judges). He further submitted that the driver was having a license to drive a light motor vehicle(LMV) who was competent to drive the offending auto, as such, no breach of the insurance policy was committed by the insured and in view of this, the tribunal has rightly fastened the liability to pay compensation on the insurer of the offending Auto No.UP-73-A-0171.

4. I have heard learned counsel for the parties, perused the impugned judgment and the record of the lower court.

5. The owner-cum-driver of the offending Auto No.UP-73-A-0171 Shivendra Kumar Vishwakarma has filed his written statement before the tribunal in which he has stated that his vehicle was insured with The Oriental Insurance Company Limited from 19.03.1999 till 18.03.2000 and he was himself driving the vehicle at the time of the alleged accident and was having valid and effective driving license, as such, if any compensation is awarded against him, then the insurance company will be liable to indemnify it. The owner has filed the Registration Certificate(RC) of the offending Auto vehicle and his driving license, which discloses that the unladen weight of the offending vehicle was only 370 KG which is below 7500 KG, as such, it would fall within the definition of Light Motor Vehicle (LMV) as per Section 2(21) of the Motor Vehicles Act,1988. Further, the driving license discloses that it was valid for driving LMV (transport) and HGV (PE) w.e.f. 28.04.1993 which was valid from 03.08.1996 to 02.08.1999, whereas the accident occurred on 03.07.1999.

6. Further, the appellant insurance company has filed a driving license verification report from the Licensing Authority, Motor Vehicles Department, Kaushambi which discloses that the license was only valid for driving LMV (pvt. vehicle) from 19.02.1999 till 18.02.2019 and on the basis of this report, learned counsel for the insurance company submitted that the license was no