Renewal of Driving Licence After Expiry

Source: Supreme Court

Why in News? 

The bench of Justices Ahsanuddin Amanullah and SVN Bhatti in the case of Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board v. Penjarla Vijay Kumar & Ors. (2025) set aside the Telangana High Court's decision and ruled that renewal of a driving licence after a gap does not establish continuous possession for recruitment eligibility purposes.

What was the Background of Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board v. Penjarla Vijay Kumar & Ors. (2025) Case? 

• The Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board issued notifications in April-May 2022 to fill 325 posts of Police Constable (Driver) and Driver Operator in Fire Services. 
• The eligibility condition required candidates to possess a valid LMV/HMV driving licence continuously for a period of full two years and above as on the date of notification. 
• Several candidates whose licences had expired during the two-year period but were renewed within the one-year window permitted under the Motor Vehicles Act applied for the posts. 
• The Recruitment Board rejected these candidates on the ground that their licences had not been held continuously due to the gap between expiry and renewal. 
• The Telangana High Court allowed these candidates to participate, reasoning that renewal takes effect from the date of expiry, meaning there was no break in continuity. 
• The Recruitment Board challenged this interpretation before the Supreme Court, arguing that expired licence holders become legally incompetent to drive during the interregnum between expiry and renewal. 
• The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 had deleted the earlier proviso granting a 30-day grace period after expiry of a licence. 
• Under the amended law, a licence ceases to be valid immediately upon expiry unless renewed.

What were the Court's Observations? 

• The Court placed significant reliance on the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019, which removed the grace period, noting that a licence now ceases to be valid immediately upon expiry. 
• The Court observed that under the amended law, unless renewed, the licence holder suffers a legal disability to drive from the very next day after expiry. 
• The bench stated that the plain words of Section 14 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 do not provide for the licence to continue after its expiry even for a single day. 
• The Court interpreted "continuously" in its plain meaning as "uninterrupted, without break or cessation", holding that any period during which a candidate was not legally authorized to drive constitutes a break in continuity. 
• The Court rejected the theory that renewal operates retrospectively for assessing continuous entitlement, stating "The theory that once a licence is renewed, even after a gap, the renewal would operate from a back date implying that the licence was continuing and valid even for and during the interregnum cannot be countenanced." 
• The Court found the High Court's interpretation erroneous, holding that retrospective effect operates only for document validity, not for assessing continuous lawful entitlement under recruitment rules. 
• The Court emphasized that driving involves hands-on experience coupled with regular practice, and lack of practice may hinder capability, especially for police purposes and disaster response/recovery. 
• The bench held that the interregnum between expiry and renewal, even if short, was fatal to eligibility under the recruitment rules. 
• The Court allowed the appeal, ruling that candidates whose licences had expired and were renewed after a gap did not satisfy the requirement of continuous possession and were therefore ineligible. 

What is the Continuous Possession Requirement for Driving Licences? 

About: 

• Recruitment notifications for driver posts in police and fire services often require candidates to possess a valid driving licence continuously for a specified period preceding the notification date. 
• This requirement ensures that candidates have sustained driving experience and current competence rather than merely holding a paper qualification. 
• The continuity requirement is distinct from simply having held a licence at some point, as it mandates uninterrupted legal authorization to drive. 

Validity and Expiry under Motor Vehicles Act: 

• Under Section 14 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, driving licences are issued for specific validity periods and must be renewed upon expiry. 
• Originally, a proviso provided a 30-day grace period after expiry during which the licence remained valid. 
• The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 deleted this grace period proviso, meaning licences now cease to be valid immediately upon expiry. 
• Renewal must be applied for within one year from the date of expiry, but during the gap between expiry and renewal, the holder has no legal authority to drive. 

Continuous Possession vs. Renewal with Retrospective Effect: 

• While renewal of a driving licence may have retrospective effect for the validity of the document itself, this does not mean the licence holder had continuous legal authority to drive during the interregnum. 
• For recruitment eligibility purposes, the continuous possession requirement assesses whether the candidate was legally authorized to drive throughout the prescribed period. 
• Any gap between expiry and renewal breaks this continuity, even if the renewal is completed within the statutory one-year window. 
• The Supreme Court emphasized that driving capability requires regular practice and hands-on experience, not merely paper validity of documents.