Case: M.S. BHATI Vs. NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD

3. The vehicle, a Mahindra Jeep bearing Registration No. RJ 17 TA 0010, met with an accident at 3 p.m. on 11 April 2008. As a result of the accident, the driver and eight persons died and three persons were injured4. The First Information Report in regard to the accident being FIR No 35/2008 was lodged at PS Rampur, District Jhalawar(Rajasthan)5. The vehicle had been insured on 18 April 2007 with the respondent for a sum of Rs 2,70,084. The claim under the insurance policy was repudiated by the insurer. This led to the filing of a consumer complaint6. The District Forum by its order dated 5 February 2013 rejected the complaint on the ground that while the accident took place at 2.10 pm on 11 April 2008, the driving license of the deceased driver appears to have been renewed at 2.42 pm on 11 April 2008. Holding that the driver did not have a valid license for driving a transport vehicle, the District Forum rejected the claim. This decision was reversed by the SCDRC. The NCDRC restored the decision of the District Forum7. During the course of the hearing, the attention of the Court was drawn to the fact that when a claim was lodged before the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal (?MACT), a finding of fact was recorded to the effect that the driving license of the deceased driver for driving a four wheel vehicle upto the capacity of 7500 kgs was valid from 16 August 1994 to 18 May 20138. The MACT by its Award dated 8 February 2017, in a batch of accident cases, came to the following conclusion:?27.1 I have considered the aforesaid situation and also perused Exhibit A-5 and it is clear that the driving license of deceased Wasim Nawaz i.e. RJ 17/4097/16 Jhalawad for driving four wheller vehicle to the capacity of 7500 kg. and the same was valid from 16-8-94 to 18- 5-13 which was for light motor vehicle and it has been argued that though vehicle bearing registration no. RJ 17 TA 0010 was a taxi vehicle but the same comes under the category of light motor vehicle and thus deceased Wasim Nawaj was having a right to drive the said vehicle under the hold of driving license….?

Court's reasoning:
13. The law which has been laid down by a three Judge Bench of this Court in Mukund Dewangan (supra) binds this Court. As a matter of judicial discipline, we are duty bound to follow that decision which continues to hold the field16. The fact that the driver had a license to drive a light motor vehicle which was valid on the date of the accident is not in dispute. The MACT returned a finding that the LMV license was valid from 16 August 1994 to 18 May 2013. The insurer has not urged anything in the course of the present proceedings to dispute this finding of fact. We have therefore proceeded on the basis that the driver had a valid LMV license on the date of the accident17. The above provision has been interpreted by the three Judge Bench of this Court in Mukund Dewangan(supra). The conclusions have been extracted earlier. It is not disputed by the insurer in the course of these proceedings that the gross weight of the vehicle was in conformity with Section 2(21).