NEW DELHI: In an important ruling that would ease payment of insurance compensation to road accident victims, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said a person holding a licence to drive light motor vehicles (LMVs) can drive all kinds of transport vehicles with a gross weight of less than 7,500 kg without the transport department's endorsement. In cases of deaths or injuries to others in accidents involving a transport vehicle driven by LMV licence holders, insurance companies were often denied compensation on the technicality that the licences were not suitably stamped by the transport department authorising them to drive transport vehicles. Solving a 25 year-old confusion over driving licence, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justices Hrishikesh Roy, P S Narasimha, Pankaj Mithal and Manoj Misra unanimously ruled that "a driver holding a license for LMV class, under Section 10(2)(d) for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight under 7,500 kg, is permitted to operate a 'Transport Vehicle' without needing additional authorisation under Section 10(2)(e) of the MV Act specifically for the 'Transport Vehicle' class.
" The additional endorsement by the transport department would be required if an LMV licence holder intends to drive a medium or heavy transport or passenger vehicle having a gross weight of over 7,500 kg, it said. Writing the 126-page judgment, Justice Roy said this authoritative pronouncement would "prevent insurance companies from taking a technical plea to defe.