AJANTHA TRANSPORTS PRIVATE LIMITED COIMBATORE KANAN MOTORS PRIVATE LIMITED KANAN MOTORS PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. T V K TRANSPORTS PULAMPATTI COIMBATORE DISTRICT:A E A VEIRANA CHETTIAR:PRABHU TRANSPORTS PRIVATE LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WE will detail facts leading up to the five Civil Appeals, which were heard together, before formulating and deciding the common questions of law raised by them.

(2.) CIVIL Appeal No. 1402 of 1974 arises out of fourteen applications, including that of the appellant before us, Ajantha Transports (P) Ltd., which were considered on 29-12-1971 by the Regional Transport Authority, Coimbatore for the grant of a stage carriage permit to ply an additional bus on the route from Coimbatore to Sathyamangal via Koilpalayam and some other places. Five of these were rejected on the preliminary ground that the prescribed fees had not been paid. One was withheld from consideration for want of Income-tax Clearance certificate. One applicant was found Disqualified, under Sec. 62-A (c) of the Motor Vehicles Act as amended by the Tamil Nadu Amendment Act 16 of 1971, because he already had more than ten permits. Out of the remaining seven applicants' the highest scorer, according to the marking system adopted by the Regional Transport Authority of the region, was one Palaniappa Gounder who obtained nine marks. But, Gounder was "bypassed" in favour of the appellant who secured 8.69 marks because Gounder had already been granted a permit on 8-10-1971. Three appeals, including one by Gounder, were then preferred to the State Transport Appellate Tribunal against the Regional Transport Authority's resolution. Only the appeal of P. V. K. Transports, described as "the second appellant" succeeded, although this party was awarded only 7.42 marks as against 8.69 of the appellant before us. The break up of the marks allotted, in accordance with Rule 155 (A) of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, was given as follows <FRM>JUDGEMENT_55_1_1975Html1.htm</FRM>

(3.) CIVIL Appeal No. 2254 of 1969 arises out of twenty one applications which came up for consideration before the Regional Transport Authority. South Arcot, Cuddalore, for grant of a stage carriage permit for the route from Porto-Novo to Puliyangudi. The R.T.A. rejected five applications on the ground that they were from new entrants who had no previous experience of this business. One was rejected on the ground that it was from a dissolved company. Another was rejected because the applicant was dead. Six were eliminated because of bad entries on their permits during the preceding year. Five were rejected on the ground that they had either no workshops or not sufficiently equipped workshops. Out of the three remaining applicants, one was considered inferior in merit in comparison with the remaining two, as his knowledge of the route was not so good as of the other two. The joint applicants Chettiar and another at No. 6 were preferred to Natarajan, applicant No. 13. on two grounds: firstly, the applicants at No. 6 were considered as somewhat better acquainted with the routes; and, secondly, the applicant No. 13 had secured a recent grant of a permit on another route. Hence, it was considered more equitable to drop him so as "not to inflict strain on the same operator by granting him more than one permit at a time".