TANSUKH RAI JAIN Vs. NILRATAN PRASAD SHAW

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, on certificate granted by the High Court of Patna, raises the question whether S. 64-A of the Motor Vehicles Act as introduced by the Motor Vehicles (Bihar Amendment) Act, 1949 (Bihar Act XXVII of 1950), hereinafter referred to as Bihar S. 64-A, was not applicable to proceedings for grant of permit for inter-State routes. This question, however, was decided by this Court in Shyamlal Kumar Pasari vs. Abdul Ghafoor, Civil Appeal No. 306 of 1964, D/- 4-5-1964 (SC). It was held that it was applicable to cases of stage-carriage permits for inter-State routes.

(2.) The respondent prayed, in view of the observations in Abdul Mateen vs. Ram Kailash Pandey, (1963) 3 SCR 523, for permission to challenge the validity of the aforesaid section on the ground that Parliament, by the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 1956 (Act No. 100 of 1956), has introduced another S. 64-A in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (Act IV of 1939), hereinafter referred to as Central S. 64-A and that thereby Bihar S. 64-A must be taken to have been repealed by necessary implication.

(3.) The question arises in this way. The appellant Tansukh Rai Jain, was one of the applicants for the stage-carriage permit for an inter-State route between Bihar and Orissa. The State Transport Authority, Bihar, granted the permit to the United Motor Works, and Co. Ltd. The appellant and respondent No. 1. Nilratan Prasad Shaw, appealed to the appellate authority, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Bihar, against the order of the State Transport authority. The appellate authority reversed the order and granted the permit to Shaw, respondent No. 1. Thereafter, the appellant went in revision to the Bihar Government, in view of Bihar S. 64-A. The Transport Minister set aside the order of the appellate authority and granted the permit to Jain, the appellant. Shaw, respondent No. 1, then filed a writ petition in the High Court and prayed for the quashing of the order of the Transport Minister and for the restoration of the order of the appellate authority granting the permit to him. The High Court allowed the writ petition holding that Bihar S. 64-A did not apply to stage-carriage permits for inter-State routes and that therefore the Bihar Government was incompetent to revise the order of the appellate authority.