RAGHAVAN Vs. S.T.A.T. KERALA STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) There were six applicants before the Regional Transport Authority, Kohikode, which may be referred to as the Authority, for a stage carriage permit for the route Badagara-Kuttiadi, via Nadapuram, of whom the second applicant, who is the petitioner in O P. No. 1435 of 1959, was the successful applicant. Of the others, applicants -- Nos. 3, 4 and 6 preferred appeals to the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, which may be referred to as the Tribunal, and which, by the order now sought to be quashed, has granted the permit in favour of the sixth applicant. Applicants -- Nos. 3 and 4 -- have preferred respectively O. P. No. 61 of 1960 and O. P. No. 69 of 1960, to quash the same order. The three petitions have been heard together by me, and this is the common judgment on them.

(2.) The grounds on which the order of the Tribunal was sought to be quashed, are three-fold, first, that the appeal preferred before it by the sixth applicant was really no appeal and was in any view, barred by limitation and so the Tribunal had acted without jurisdiction in ordering the grant of a permit to him, secondly, that the grounds urged by the Authority for rejecting the claim of the sixth applicant were wrongly overruled by the Tribunal; and thirdly, that the Tribunal committed an error apparent on the face of the record by granting the permit to the sixth applicant, which would result in a monopoly to him. These grounds may be considered seriatim.

(3.) The sixth applicant is the sole proprietor of the business called "The Punchiri Motor Service, Badagara." Appeal No. 439 of 1957 was preferred, with the description of the appellant as The Punchiri Motor Service, Badagara, and the appeal memorandum was signed by N. K. Gopala Kurup as "manager for and on behalf of The Punchiri Motor Service" and by the Advocate, the vakalath in whose name was executed by N. K. Gopala Kurup. The objection was taken, that the appeal could not be preferred in the business name "The Punchiri Motor Service, Badagara" under Order XXXIII, Rule 10, C. P. C. Upon this, the sixth applicant A. C. Kunhiraman Nambiar by name, made two applications, C. M. Ps. Nos. 81 and 82 of 1958 on August, 6, 1958, the former being for the substitution of his name for that of the appellant or in the alternative, for his impleadment as additional appellant, and the latter being for the correction of the cause title of the appeal, by inserting his name and description as the proprietor of The Punchiri Motor Service, Badagara, in the place of the original description. After hearing the parties, the Tribunal allowed both applications, by permitting the insertion of the name and description of the sixth applicant as of the appellant. A further objection based on S.22(1) of the Limitation Act, that the appeal would then be barred by limitation, was overruled by the Tribunal, on the ground, that it was only a case of misdescription of the appellant due to a bona fide mistake. The appeals pending before the Tribunal were then heard, and disagreeing with the reasoning of the Authority and setting aside its order, it remanded the matter for fresh decision. The petitioner in O. P. No. 1435 of 1959 then preferred O. P. No. 742 of 1958, in disposing of which, this court observed as follows: