JEEWAN NATH WAHAL Vs. SHEIK MAHF007 JAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question arising in this appeal, by certificate, may be stated thus :

(2.) The route involved in this case was the one between Meerut and Dankaur which had no direct passenger bus service. There were, however, two routes which were being operated, namely, one from Meerut to Bulandshahar and the other from Siana to Dankaur, one crossing the other, so that if one wanted to go from Meerut to Dankaur there was no direct service, and, therefore, he would have first to travel in the bus running from Meerut to Bulandshahar, get down at a place near Gulsothi and catch the bus running from Siana to Dankaur. This was the position when the appellants, amongst others, applied to the Regional Transport Authority for permits to operate a direct service from Meerut to Dankaur. This was, therefore, not a case where the R. T. A. had already decided upon opening the new route, fixed the number of permits necessary for such a route and then invited applications from operators. Nevertheless, the R. T. A., following the procedure laid down in Section 57 of the Act, published these applications, to which objections were raised amongst others by those who were operating on the routes earlier referred to.

(3.) These applications came up for consideration in the meeting held before the R. T. A. on July 28, 1965, when Item 3 of the Agenda for that meeting was :