Third-party motor insurance liability: light motor vehicle licence remains valid despite commercial use absent wilful insured breach.

Compulsory third-party insurance under the Motor Vehicles Act generally requires the insurer to satisfy third-party claims, and the insurer's defences remain confined to the statutory grounds in Section 149. Earlier authorities on driving licence breaches are read with later authority to mean that mere absence of an endorsement, fake particulars, or imperfect licensing details does not defeat the claim unless a wilful breach by the insured is shown. A driver authorised to drive a light motor vehicle remains duly licensed for that vehicle even if it is used commercially, so long as the vehicle falls within the light motor vehicle category. Accordingly, the insurer cannot avoid liability solely for lack of a separate commercial endorsement.

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Issues: Whether an insurer can avoid liability to third-party claimants on the ground that the driver held a licence to drive a light motor vehicle but lacked an endorsement to drive that vehicle when used as a commercial vehicle.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of compulsory third-party insurance under the Motor Vehicles Act makes insurer liability to third parties the rule, while the insurer's defences are confined to the grounds specified in Section 149. The earlier decisions on breach of policy condition, including the requirement of a valid driving licence, were read together with the later line of authority holding that mere absence, fake, or imperfect licensing particulars do not by themselves defeat the statutory claim unless the insured is shown to have committed a wilful breach. A driver authorised to drive a light motor vehicle does not cease to be duly licensed merely because the vehicle is used as a commercial vehicle, where the vehicle itself remains within the light motor vehicle category.

Conclusion: The insurer could not repudiate liability on the ground that no separate endorsement existed to drive the vehicle as a commercial vehicle, and the compensation award was recoverable from the insurer.

Ratio Decidendi: A person holding a valid licence to drive a light motor vehicle is duly licensed for that vehicle, and the insurer cannot avoid third-party liability merely because the vehicle was being used commercially unless a statutory breach by the insured is established.

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