EMPEROR Vs. ABA APPA DHARWADE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this case the accused Aba Appa Dharwade was convicted under Section 16 of the Bombay Motor Vehicles Act VIII of 1914 for committing a breach of Rule 7 of the Rules applicable to the Ratnagiri District published in Government Resolution No. 6630, dated October 16, 1917, and also under Rule 33 (b) published in Government Notification No. 2592, dated March 16, 1920.

(2.) The facts found against the accused are, that, on August 30, 1925, the accused drove a motor car belonging to Messrs. Shirgaokar Brothers who had a contract for the transport of the mails between Ratnagiri and Kolhapur, as the regular driver of Messrs. Shirgaokar Brothers was ill on that day ; that, according to the owner's permit, not more than eight passengers could be carried in the Ratnagiri District, and as a matter of fact the accused carried seventeen passengers including himself and the cleaner. The defence of the accused was that the same car was licensed to carry seventeen persons within Kolhapur limits and carried seventeen persons from Sakharpe to Kolhapur on that day, and that he did not know that in the Ratnagiri District the car was to carry eight persons only. It is argued on behalf of the accused that as this motor carried the mails, it was not plying for hire, and reliance was placed on Queen-Empress V/s. Narayan, (1890) Unrep. Cr. C. 521 in which it was held that a tonga, when used for carrying Her Majesty's mails, is not a public conveyance within the definition contained in Section 1 of Bombay Act VI of 1863. It does not appear from the facts of that case whether the tonga was licensed to carry passengers. Besides the definition of "public conveyance" would not include a motor car, and the present case will have to be decided by the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act VIII of 1914 and the rules made thereunder.

(3.) Under Section 6 of the Act no owner or person in charge of a motor vehicle shall allow any person who is not so licensed, to drive it. Under Section 7 the holder of a license shall not allow it to be used by any other person. Section 8 says that the driver of a motor vehicle shall produce his license upon demand by any police-officer.