Motor vehicle insurance liability: tractor and trailer are treated together, and invalid licence defences require reliable proof.

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, a tractor and its trailer or trolley are treated together as a motor vehicle for insurance purposes, so the insurer cannot avoid liability merely because the trolley was not separately insured. The insurer also bears the burden of proving any plea that the driver lacked a valid licence; where the record does not reliably show that the licence was fake or invalid, that defence fails. On these principles, liability is not defeated by the trailer objection or by unproven allegations about the driving licence, and the award is left undisturbed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the insurer could avoid liability on the ground that the accident involved a trolley drawn by the tractor and the trolley was not separately insured; and (ii) Whether the insurer had established that the driver was not holding a valid driving licence.

Issue (i): Whether the insurer could avoid liability on the ground that the accident involved a trolley drawn by the tractor and the trolley was not separately insured.

Analysis: The relevant definitions of motor vehicle, semi-trailer, tractor and trailer under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 were examined. The expression motor vehicle is of wide amplitude and includes a trailer. A trailer or trolley drawn by a tractor does not have an independent identity for this purpose, and the tractor with the trailer together falls within the statutory conception of a motor vehicle. On that basis, the insurer's objection that the trolley alone was not insured could not defeat liability.

Conclusion: The objection was rejected and the insurer remained liable.

Issue (ii): Whether the insurer had established that the driver was not holding a valid driving licence.

Analysis: The record relied upon by the insurer did not establish that the licence was fake or invalid. The Tribunal had found that the relevant register for the relevant year had not been properly examined, and the insurer failed to show why the evidence of the concerned witness could support the plea that the licence was not genuine or valid.

Conclusion: The insurer failed to prove that the driving licence was invalid.

Final Conclusion: No interference was warranted with the award, and the appeal failed in its entirety.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purposes of motor accident insurance liability, a tractor and its trailer are to be read together under the statutory definition of motor vehicle, and an insurer seeking to avoid liability on the ground of an invalid licence must establish that plea with reliable evidence.

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