Motor Vehicle - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition motor-vehicle

Definition :

Motor vehicle, means any mechanically propelled vehicle adapted for use upon roads whether the power of propulsion is transmitted thereto from an external or internal source and includes a chassis to which a body has not been attached and a trailer; but does not include a vehicle running upon fixed rails or a vehicle of a special type adapted for use only in a factory or in any other enclosed premises or a vehicle having less than four wheels fitted with engine capacity of not exceeding [twenty-five cubic centimetres]. [Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988), s. 2 (28)]

A 'motor vehicle' means any mechanically propelled vehicle adapted for use upon roads whether the power of propulsion is transmitted thereto from an external or internal source and includes a chassis to which a body has not been attached and a trailer; but does not include a vehicle running upon fixed rails or a vehicle of a special type adapted for use only in a factory or in any other enclosed premises', Automotive Manuacturers (P) Ltd. v. Government of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1972 SC 229: (1972) 2 SCR 593: (1972) 1 SCC 125.

The word 'vehicle' itself connotes that it is a contrivance which moves. A vehicle which merely moves from one place to another need not necessarily be a motor vehicle within the meaning of s. 2(18) of the Bihar & Orissa Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1930, Bolani Ores Ltd. v. State of Orissa, AIR 1975 SC 17: (1974) 2 SCC 777. [Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, s. 2 (18); Bihar and Orissa Motor Vehicles Taxation act, 1930]

--merely because a vehicle does not carry passengers or goods does not means that it crease to be a motor vehicle. So long as it is a vehicle, which is mechanically propelled, and is adapted for use on roads, it is a motor vehicle within the meaning of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1998, Government of Andhra Pradesh v. Road Rollers Owners Welfare Association, (2004) 6 SCC 210 (212). [Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, s. 2(21) & (28)]