Vehicle owner not expected to verify the authenticity of driver's license if sufficient precaution is taken: Supreme Court

Vehicle owner not expected to verify the authenticity of driver's license if sufficient precaution is taken: Supreme Court

"The owner of the vehicle is expected to verify the driving skills and not run to the licensing authority to verify the genuineness of the driving license before appointing a driver," the bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Vikram Nath observed.

The Supreme Court observed that an owner of a vehicle cannot be expected to verify the genuineness of his driver's license if he was satisfied with his driving skills.

The facts of the case are, upon an accident of a truck, the owner submitted that he had taken the Driver's test before employing him to determine if the driving was satisfactory. In the motor accident claim, the owner also stated that the driver had been employed for 3 years before the date of the accident and the driver had a driving license from Nagaland. However, the license was not produced before the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. Upon finding out that the driver's license was fake, the Tribunal passed an award granting liberty to the Insurance Company to recover the awarded amount from the owner along with up-to-date interest. The Delhi High Court dismissed the appeal filed by the owner.

Before the Apex Court, the owner contended that the owner has no means to verify the genuineness of the driving license produced before him. That, he had taken a test of the driver before employing him, he has taken sufficient precaution before employment.

Taking note of this contention, the bench observed that "If the owner has stated that driver had produced the driving license from Nagaland but no such license was produced on record, it is a mistake on the part of the owner. However, such an aspect cannot be used to grant liberty to the Insurance Company to recover the amount from the owner when the driving license actually produced by the claimant themselves was from Una, Himachal Pradesh. It may be stated that falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus is not the principle applicable in India. Therefore, even if a part of the statement that the driver has produced the license from Nagaland is not correct, it is wholly inconsequential."

Placing reliance in United India Insurance Co. Ltd v. Lehru & Ors (2003) 3 SCC 338, the court observed:

"When an owner is hiring a driver he will therefore have to check whether the driver has a driving license. If the driver produces a driving license which on the face of it looks genuine, the owner is not expected to find out whether the license has in fact been issued by a competent authority or not. The owner would then take the test of the driver. If he finds that the driver is competent to drive the vehicle, he will hire the driver. We find it rather strange that insurance companies expect owners to make enquiries with RTOs, which are spread all over the country, whether the driving license shown to them is valid or not. Thus where the owner has satisfied himself that the driver has a license and is driving competently there would be no breach of Section 149(2)(a)(ii). The insurance company would not then be absolved of liability. If it ultimately turns out that the license was fake, the insurance company would continue to remain liable unless they prove that the owner/insured was aware or had noticed that the license was fake and still permitted that person to drive. More importantly, even in such a case the insurance company would remain liable to the innocent third party, but it may be able to recover from the insured."

The bench allowed the appeal and observed:

"The owner of the vehicle is expected to verify the driving skills and not run to the licensing authority to verify the genuineness of the driving license before appointing a driver. Therefore, once the owner is satisfied that the driver is competent to drive the vehicle, it is not expected from the owner thereafter to verify the genuineness of the driving license issued to the driver."