Chapter II — Licensing Of Drivers Of Motor Vehicles

Section 14Currency of licences to drive motor vehicles

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Act 59 of 1988)

Text of the section

Currency of licences to drive motor vehicles.—(1) A learner’s licence issued under this Act shall, subject to the other provisions of this Act, be effective for a period of six months from the date of issue of the licence. (2) A driving licence issued or renewed under this Act shall,— (a) in the case of a licence to drive a transport vehicle, be effective for a period of three years: 1*** 2[Provided that in the case of licence to drive a transport vehicle carrying goods of dangerous or hazardous nature be effective for a period of one year and renewal thereof shall be subject to the condition that the driver undergoes one day refresher course of the prescribed syllabus; and;] (b) in the case of any other licence,— (i) if the person obtaining the licence, either originally or on renewal thereof, has not attained the age of 3[fifty years] on the date of issue or, as the case may be, renewal thereof,— (A) be effective for a period of twenty years from the date of such issue or renewal;or (B) until the date on which such person attains the age of 3[fifty years], whichever is earlier;

Reproduced from the India Code text of the Act. Bracketed superscript numerals are the official footnote markers for earlier amendments.

Amended by the 2019 Amendment Act

In section 14 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),— (i) in clause (a),— (A) for the words “three years”, the words “five years” shall be substituted; (B) in the proviso, for the portion beginning with the words “one year” and ending with the word “and” the words “three years and renewal thereof shall be subject to such conditions as the Central Government may prescribe; and”, shall be substituted; (ii) for clause (b), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:— “(b) in the case of any other licence, subject to such conditions as the Central Government may prescribe, if the person obtaining the licence, either originally or on renewal thereof,— (i) has not attained the age of thirty years on the date of issue or, renewal thereof, be effective until the date on which such person attains the age of forty years; or (ii) has attained the age of thirty years but has not attained the age of fifty years on the date of issue or, renewal thereof, be effective for a period of ten years from the date of such issue or renewal; or (iii) has attained the age of fifty years but has not attained the age of fifty-five years on the date of issue or, renewal thereof, be effective until the date on which such person attains the age of sixty years; or (iv) has attained the age of fifty-five years on the date of issue or as the case may be, renewal thereof, be effective for a period of five years from the date of such issue or renewal.”; (iii) the proviso shall be omitted. 10.

This is the amending instruction from the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 (Act 32 of 2019), quoted verbatim. Read it together with the text above — the consolidated version is the section as it reads once these changes are applied.

Before you rely on this. The base text above is the Act as consolidated by the India Code, which predates the 2019 amendment; any 2019 change is shown separately rather than merged in. Later amendments may also apply. For anything official, read the current text on the e-Gazette or the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways site.

📘

All sections

Browse the full arrangement of sections.

⚠️

Violations & penalties

What each offence costs in practice.