RAM AUTAR LAL JAIN Vs. MINISTER OF TRANSPORT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by certificate from a judgment of the High Court at Patna comes before us in the following circumstances:An Application was made by one Ram Autar Lal Jain before the Chhotanagpur Regional Transport Authority (hereinafter referred to as the "RTA") for grant of a stage carriage permit on a particular route. The application was made within the time fixed. But, before the application could be considered Ram Autar Lal Jain died leaving one widow and two sons as his survivors, heirs and legal representatives. Ram Autar Lal Jain's heirs formed a partnership firm called M/s. Ram Autar Lal Jain and an application was made before the RTA for substitution of the firm in place of Ram Autar Lal Jain deceased, the original applicant, so that the firm could prosecute the application before the RTA. The RTA allowed the substitution but split up the route into two parts and granted one part to the appellant and the other part to the Respondent No. 4. The matter did not, however, rest with the decision of the RTA but was taken up in appeal before the State Transport Authority by as many as four different parties. The State Transport Authority set aside the order of the RTA on various grounds, such as:(i) that, the route could not be split up; and (ii) that, the parties in whose favour the permit had been given had failed to produce the vehicle within the time allowed by the RTA. The State Transport Authority granted the permit to one Mangtulal Tulshiyan. It did not go into the question of legality of substitution of the appellant firm in place of Ram Autar Lal Jain. Four revision petitions having been filed against this order, the Minister concerned remanded the case to the RTA for a reconsideration after hearing all the parties which had appeared before the RTA on April 23, 1965. Mangtulal Tulshiyan challenged this order of the Minister before the High Court of Patna which set it aside and directed the Minister to rehear only the petitioners who had filed revision petitions and not those who had not complained against the previous order before the Minister. The Minister, on this occasion, granted the permit in favour of Bijoy Bahadur Singh (who is respondent No. 4 in this appeal) on the ground that he was competent and qualified and satisfied the requirement which the RTA had laid down that is to say, that a new-comer and a small operator should be introduced on the relevant route and also on the ground that Government should try to break monopolies. In the course of his order, the Minister rejected the appellant's application for permit on two grounds:Firstly, the appellant not being a heir to Ram Autar Lal Jian, should not have been allowed to prosecute the application before the RTA and, secondly, that the appellant did not satisfy the criterion set up by the RTA in so far as the appellant was neither a new-comer nor a small operator. The appellant took the matter to the Patna High Court by means of a writ petition. The writ petition was summarily dismissed by the High Court.

(2.) The principal question that has arisen for determination in this appeal is whether, upon the death of an applicant for a stage carriage permit before his application has been considered by the Regional Transport Authority, the heirs or legal representatives of the applicant have the right to step into the shoes of the deceased applicant and prosecute the application filed by him before the Regional Transport Authority. The problem arises because there is no provision in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, which provides for succession to an applicant's right to prosecute his application for a stage carriage permit before the Transport Authorities.

(3.) It is clear that, although, no person is entitled to a permit as a matter of right, the Motor Vehicles Act has conferred upon a person the right to make an application under Chapter IV of the Motor Vehicles Act for any of the four types of permits dealt with in that chapter. A person has also the right to have his application considered by the appropriate authority in accordance with the provisions of the Act so long as he makes an application within the prescribed time and in the prescribed form. If such an application is made the transport authority cannot legally ignore that application and consider other applications only. The authority could reject the application on merits. Thus, an application made for a permit under Chapter IV of the Motor Vehicles Act gives only the right that the merits of the applicant will be considered vis-a-vis other applicants. These merits depend generally upon the peculiar position, capabilities, and qualifications of an applicant which may be either personal or peculiarly or particularly those of a concern or organisation. It is not necessary that an heir or successor of an applicant will also have the applicant's qualifications or capabilities with regard to a transport service for the benefit of the public. Probably it was for this reason that neither the Motor Vehicles Act nor the rules made thereunder provide for the substitution of heirs to prosecute the application of a deceased claimant for a permit.