VIJAYAKUMAR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a doctor by profession, purchased a Mahindra Camper as per Ext. P1 sale certificate and applied for registration. The statutory authority required that the vehicle be painted in Highway yellow colour in terms of Rule 304 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, hereinafter referred to as "the Rules". This Writ Petition is filed challenging the said stand of the statutory authority and seeking a declaration that Rule 304 need not be complied with for the registration of the vehicle in question. A direction that no insistence shall be made to conform to Rule 304 of the Rules, is also sought for.

(2.) By interim order dated 18.12.2003, the second respondent was directed to register the vehicle on the undertaking of the petitioner that it will be used only for personal use of the petitioner and not for the purpose of carrying goods. That interim order was issued, essentially, on the basis of the undertaking of the petitioner in para (3) of the Writ Petition that he does not propose to use the said vehicle as a goods carriage vehicle. Following that interim order, the petitioner's vehicle was registered.

(3.) Rule 304 of the Rules provides that every goods vehicle shall be painted in Highway yellow colour, either fully or its front and rear portion. In understanding the scope of the said Rule, the term 'goods vehicle' has to be understood, following the definitions in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, hereinafter "the Act", for short. Section 2(14) of the Act provides that 'goods carriage' means 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. The use of the word 'means' in the said definition clause excludes any other meaning being attached to the term 'goods carriage'. There is nothing in the context requiring otherwise. The use of the word 'solely' in the said definition shows that when the construction or adaptation of a motor vehicle is not for the sole purpose of carriage of goods, the said vehicle cannot be treated as a goods carriage for the purpose of the Act or the Rules. Having particular regard to the sweep of Sub-sections 13 and 14 of Section 2 of the Act and the terms of Rule 304 of the Rules, it is predominantly clear that a vehicle, which is not solely used for the carriage of goods referable to Section 2(13), cannot be required to be painted in Highway yellow colour.