- (1.) SINCE the parties are the same and the appeals arise out of a common order, all these three appeals were heard together and are disposed of accordingly by a common order as hereunder. Since the facts are not in controversy, an elaboration of the same is rather superfluous.
(2.) THE lorries belonging to the complainant in each of the cases met with an accident. They were insured with the opposite party and a claim for payment of the entire sum incurred as and by way of damages. When they made a claim, the opposite party decided to treat the claim as a non -standard claim and offered to pay 75% of the admissibility of the claim amount assessed by the Surveyor. Since the complainants were not prepared to accept such a settlement, they have come forward with these complaints alleging deficiency in service and for a direction to the opposite parties to pay the full amount due on the policies.
(3.) THE contention of the opposite party is that the drivers of the vehicles did not have an effective licence and were not authorized to drive the said vehicles and, therefore, they are in order in treating it as a non -standard claim and it cannot be faulted with. The three vehicles admittedly carried hazardous goods. According to the opposite party, the drivers who drove the transport vehicle did not have proper authorization from the Licensing Authority to drive the vehicles containing dangerous goods and inasmuch as they and no endorsement authorizing them to drive the vehicles carrying hazardous goods, the driving licences held by them were valid licences in law and, therefore, the drivers were not authorized to drive the vehicles carrying dangerous goods and as a result they are justified in treating it as a non -standard claim. To appreciate this contention, it would become relevant to refer to the provisions of Motor Vehicles Act. Section 9 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 provides that if an application for a licence to drive a transport vehicle is made, no such authorization shall be granted to any applicant unless he possesses such minimum educational qualification as may be prescribed by the Central Government and a driving certificate issued by a school or establishment referred to in Section 12. Section 2(21) of the Act defines a "Light Motor Vehicle" means a transport bus or omnibus the gross vehicle weight of either of which or a motor car or tractor or road -roller the unladen weight of any of which, does not exceed 7500 kilograms. "Heavy Goods Vehicle" is defined in Section 2(16) of the Act as any goods carriage the gross vehicle weight of which, or a tractor or a road -roller the unladen weight of either of which exceeds 12,000 kilograms. In Section 2(14), "goods carriage" is defined is any motor vehicle constructed or adapted for use solely for the carriage of goods or any motor vehicle not so constructed or adapted when used for the carriage of goods. "Gross Vehicle Weight" is defined to mean the total weight of the vehicle and load certified and registered by the registering authority as admissible for that vehicle. Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 provides "Educational qualifications for drivers of goods carriages carrying dangerous or hazardous goods". It provides that any person driving a goods carriage carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature to human life shall, in addition to being the holder of a driving licence to drive a transport vehicle, also has the ability to read and write at least one Indian language out of those specified in the 7th Schedule of the Constitution and English and also possess a certificate of having successfully passed a course consisting of certain syllabus and periodicity connected with the transport of such goods. Period of training is 3 days and it must be undertaken at any institute recognized by the State Government. The syllabus for the same is Defensive driving, Advanced driving skills and training, Products safety - UN Panel. Under Product safety several heads are included. The Rules further provides that the licensing authority, on receipt of the application referred to in Sub -rule (2) shall make an endorsement in the driving licence of the applicant to the effect that he is authorized to drive a goods carriage carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature to human life. Rule 129 provides that every owner of a goods carriage transporting any dangerous or hazardous goods shall, in addition to complying with the provisions of any law for the time being in force in relation to any category of dangerous or hazardous goods, comply with the following conditions. Every such goods carriage carrying the same type of dangerous or hazardous goods whether in bulk or in packages, shall display a distinct mark of the class label appropriate to the type of dangerous or hazardous goods specified in column 3 of the Table I to Rule 137. Further, every package containing dangerous or hazardous goods shall display the distinct class labels appropriate to the type of dangerous or hazardous goods. Every goods carriage carrying any dangerous or hazardous goods shall be equipped with safety equipments for preventing fire, explosion or escape of hazardous or dangerous goods. It also provides that one year from the date of commencement of Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 1993, every goods carriage carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature to human life, shall be fitted with technograph, an instrument to record the lapse of running time of the motor vehicle, time speed maintained, acceleration, deceleration, etc., conforming to the specifications of the Bureau of Indian Standards. Rule 129(9) further provides that six months from the date of commencement of Central Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Rules, 1993, every goods carriage carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature to human life shall be fitted with a spark arrester.;