Rajasthan HC dismisses insurer’s appeal, holds tractor licence covers any Light Motor Vehicle below 7500 kg

Jodhpur: The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed The New India Assurance Company’s bid to escape liability for the death of a tempo driver. It held that a tractor licence is valid to drive any Light Motor Vehicle of unladen weight up to 7500 kg. Justice Sandeep Shah, sitting as a single bench, ruled that the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 does not create a separate licence category for tractors. The deceased driver was therefore duly authorised to drive the tempo in question.

The appeal had been filed under Section 30 of the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 against a 2005 award by the Commissioner, Workmen’s Compensation, Rajsamand. The Commissioner had directed the insurer to pay Rs 4,68,410 to the family of Abhay Singh, a driver who succumbed to injuries in a tempo accident on 30 November 2004. Abhay Singh was employed by the vehicle’s owner, Udai Singh, on a salary of Rs 4,000 per month. His widow, Jamna Kanwar, had moved the Commissioner seeking compensation along with interest. The insurer challenged the award before the High Court.

Before the High Court, the insurer argued that the deceased held a licence only to drive a tractor. The vehicle in question was a transport vehicle, it submitted, which the deceased was not authorised to drive. This, it contended, amounted to a breach of Sections 147 and 149 (insurer liability and policy conditions) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The insurer also disputed the Rs 4,000 monthly salary as exaggerated and unproven. The widow’s counsel countered that the tempo’s unladen weight of 1180 kg placed it squarely within the Light Motor Vehicle category.

Justice Shah noted that the insurer had not put a single question to the widow on the salary issue during cross-examination. The employer had himself admitted to paying Rs 4,000 per month, which the bench called the best possible evidence of the deceased’s income. On the licence question, the bench turned to Section 2(21) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which defines a Light Motor Vehicle. The provision expressly covers a tractor, motor car, road roller, omnibus or transport vehicle whose unladen weight does not exceed 7500 kg.

The judge relied on the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench ruling in Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. v. Rambha Devi, (2025) 3 SCC 95. The five-judge bench had held that a holder of a Light Motor Vehicle licence is entitled to drive a transport vehicle of the same weight category, without any separate endorsement. He noted that the tempo had an unladen weight of 1180 kg — well below the 7500 kg statutory threshold — and therefore squarely qualified as a Light Motor Vehicle.

Dismissing the insurer’s contention, the judge held: “It is thus clear that there is no distinction between the tractor or road roller or a Light Motor Vehicle or a OMNI Bus including a transport vehicle until and unless the unladen weight of the same was less than 7500 Kgs… It can thus be specifically held that if a person is holding a license to drive a tractor, it includes a ‘Light Motor Vehicle’; therefore, the license would be valid for driving a Light Motor Vehicle, provided the unladen weight is less than 7500 Kgs.”

The High Court accordingly dismissed the appeal as “bereft of merit”. It directed the insurer to disburse the compensation amount, if not already paid, within one month.

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