Ansari & Ors. v. State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Lucknow & Ors.

Judgment

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by- DESAI, J .-The appellants applied for temporary permits under section 68-F (1-C) for plying the passenger vehides on Khurja- Paliasu-Chhatari-Dabai-Rajghat-Ramghat-Atrauli route (route for short) which. applications came to be rejected by the State Transport Authority and their appeal to the State Transport Appellate Tribunal and a writ petition to the High Court of Allahabad did not meet with &uccess. It is a common ground that in respect of the route a scheme has been prepared and published under section 68C of Chapter IV-A of Motor Vehicles Act, 1939. The route in que~tion is an inter Fegional route and therefore an application for temporary permit for the period intervening between the date of publication of the scheme and the date of publication of the approved or modified scheme has to be made to the State Transport Authority under sec.68(1-C).

Ignoring the previous his~ory of the litigation for the present, it may be noticed that the appellants made applications to the State Transport Authority for grants of temporary permits to ply their vehicles on the route. The U.P. State Road Transport Corporation (Corpotation for short) also made an application for granj of three temporary PRAVEEN ANSARI v. STATE TRANSPORT LUCKNOW (Desai J.) permits for the same purpose and the application of the Corporation for three permits was granted while the application made by each of the appellants was rejected on the ground that once a scheme has been published in view of the provision contained in Sec. 68-F(l-A) the Corporation alone to !he exclusion of others, is entitled to apply for temporary permit and if such application is made by the Corporration and granted no one else is entitled to obtain a temporary permit.

Tl)is decision of !he State Transport Authority has been · npheld both by the State Transport Appellate Tribunal and the High Court. Section 68-F(l) makes it obligatory upon the State Transport Authority or Regional Transport Aµthority as the case may be to grant permit of the nature envisaged in the section to the Corporation to the exclusion of any other applicant. ·section 68-F (1-A) confers power on the State Traruport Authority or the Regional Transport Authority as the case may be, for the period intervening between the date of publication of the scheme and the date of publication of the approved or modified scheme to increase in public interest the · number of vehicles operating on the route or the area in respect of which the scheme has been published by State Transport Corporation under section 68C and further enables the Corporation to apply for temporary permits to ply the vehicles during the inter-regnum.

On -such applications being made it is obligatory upon the State Transport ~uthority or the Regional Transport Authority as the case may be 'to grant such temporary permits. Section 68-F (1-B) is not relevant for the present purpose . . Section 68-F(l-C) reads as under:

"If no application for a temporary permit is made under sub-section (1-A), the StateTransport Authority or the Regional Transport Authority, as the case may be, may gra!Jt, subject to such conditions as it may think fit, . temporary permit to any . person in respect of the area or route or portio~ thereof specified in the scheme and the permit so granted shall cease to be effective on the issue of a permit to the State Transport Undertaking in respect of that area or route or portion thereof." 'Section 68-F (lD) takes away the power of permit granting authority to grant or renew any permit during the period intervening between the date of publication, under section 68-C of any scheme and the ·date of publication of the approved or modified scheme, in favour · ·<'lf any person for any class of road transport service in relation to an area or route or portion thereof covered by such scheme except as provided in sub-section (1-A) and snl>-section (1-C). [1981]

1 s.c~ The Corporation has published a scheme .in respect of the route.I Even when a scheme is published it is open to the State Transport~ Authority or the Regional Transport Authority as the case may b6 to fix or increase the number of vehicles that may opera~e on the route. But the power fo increase the number must be exercised in public interest. It is <:ommon ground that the strength of vehicles on the route in question was raised from 13 to 20. Hence in view of this raising of the strength, 7 temporary permits could be granted. However, in view of the provision contained in section 68-F(l-A) consequent upon the scheme being p1,1blished by the Corporatio~ under section 68-C in respect of the route the Corporation will be entitled to all the temporary· permits lo the exclusion of any other operator.

But Legislature was aware of a possible situation where the Corporation though entitled to ~emporary permits to the exclusion of other operators may not be in a position to avail of this statutory right. Section 68-F(l-C) appears to have been introduced to meet with the situation arising out of the inability of the Corporation to obtain all available temporary permits.

Sf~ction 68-F(l-C) caters to such a situation where a scheme has been published and, therefore, the Corporation would be entitled to temporary permits till the approved scheme Is published, yet if the Corporation is unable to provide service by obtaining all requisite temporary permits, the State- Transport Authority or the Regional Transport Authority as the case may be, in exercise of power conferred specifically upon it by section 68-F ( 1-C) can grant temporary permits to persons other than the Corporation to operate vehicles on the route for which the schem~ is published till modified or approved scl).eme is published. It is not in dispute that there are 7 vacancies for temporary permits. It is an admitted position that the Corporation applied for only 3 permits. The State Transport Authority has not recorded a· finding that in public interest remaining 4 permits were not required to be issued.

Und.oubtedly, therefore, there were 4 vacancies for which 4 temporary permits could be issued by the State Transport Authority on this inter regional route. Undoubtedly the permits. will have to be temporary permits because the scheme has been published in respect of the route under section 68C. The State Transport Authority, the State Transport Appellate Tribunal and the High Court fell into arl error by interpreting section 68-F(l-C) only to mean that even though there are 7 vacancies and the Corporation applied for only 3 temporary permits, once the Corporation made an application for temporary permits not for t~e . full strength but something short of it there was no power left m;. PRAVEEN ANSARI v. STATE TRANSPORT LUCKNOW (Desai J.) the State Transport Authority to grant temporary permits to any -0ne else. Obviously section 68-F(l-C) does no~ admit of such a construction.

The State Transport Authority has power under sub section ( 1-C) to grant temporary permit to any person in respect of the area or the route or part thereof specified in the scheme. The expression 'any person' would comprehend any person even other than the Corporation. One has to read section 68-F ( 1-A) and section 68-F (1-C) harmoniously. If the Corporation applies for-temporary permits undoubtedly the State Transport Authority cannot grant permit to any one else if the Corporation has applied for all the permits. But section 68-F (1-C) clearly envisaged a situation where application for a temporary permit is not made under section 68-F {1-A) by the Corporation. And there is felt need for providing transport service on the route in question. Now it cannot be gain said that there were 7 vacancies for temporary permits because the strength was increased from 13 to 20. The State Transport Authority is the proper authority to decide the strength of vehicles . to be plied on a route.

If !he Corporation is willing to operate vehicles· to the maximum strength undoubtedly the State Transport Authority will have to grant permit to the Corporation under section 68-F(l-A) to the exclusion of others. But if the Corporation was unable to provide vehicles for the optimum strength fixed by the State Transport Authority the remaining permits will have to be granted to any other person willing to obtain tern porary , permit and ply vehicle because in respect of the remaining strength there would be no application by the Corporation and section 68-F {1-C) would be squarely attracted. In interpreting the provisions of Chapter IV-A of Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 it is undoubtedly true that the Corporation enjoys a preferential treatment in the matter of obtaining permits. The authority under the Act must not ever lose •igbt of the fact that the primary consideration must be the service available to the travelling public.

While interpreting the'provision! -0f the Motor Vehicles Act undoubtedly the competing claims between the Corporation and the other private operators may be examined with reference to the l'rovisions of the Act:; But the overall consideration namely the service is for the benefit 'of the travelling public should never be overlooked for a moment. Reverting to the facts of this case if the approach of the High Court is accepted it would lead to a startling result. Assuming there were 10 vacancies for temporary permits and the Corporation was able to provide only one vehicle and therefore applied for only one permit, according to the State Transport Appellate Tribunal as well as the High Court no temporary permit can be granted to any one els~ L for the remaining 9 vacancies. Such is. not the position emerging from a combined reading of section 68-F(l-A) and·· Sectio.n 68-F(l-C).

The correct approach would be that keepi.'1g in view the strength of the vehicles fixed by· the competent authority, the authority should first examine the applieation fo: number of temporary permits made by the Corporation. If the Corporation has made· application for temporary permits covering all the vacancies the matter ends there. But if !he Corporation does not apply for all the permits but ollly for some, the inescapable conclusion is that' for the· remaining strength the Corporation has made no application for the \emporary permits and section 68-F(l-C) ·would be squarely attracted. In that event the State Transport Authority or the Regional Transport Authority as the case may be will have to examine · the application for temporary permits made by persons other than the Corporation and if they are found to be competent, eligible and qualified they may have to be granted permits fqr the benefit of the large· travelling public.

That· is why power to increase strength of fleet operating on \he .route is conferred and has to be exercised in public interest meaning transport facili\y to travelling public. In this case there were 7 vacancies for temporary permits. The Corporation applied for only 3. It was incumbent upon the S_tate Transport Authori\y to .consider the applications of the present appellants for the remaining 4 vacancies and grant follr permits according to law. Accordingly this appeal is allowed and tbe orders of the State Transport Authority, the State Transpor\ Appellate Tribunal and the . High Court are set aside and the matter is remitted to the State Transport Authority to consider the applications of the present appellants for the remaimng 4 vacancies and pass orders according to law. In the circumstances of this case, there will be no order as to costs. S'.R. Appeal allowed.