PARAMESWARAN NAIR Vs. R T O TRISSUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has applied for the grant of a regular stage carriage permit on an inter district (or inter regional) route. As major portion of the route lies within the territorial limits of Regional Transport Authority, Trissur, the application was made before that Transport Authority. The Secretary of the Transport Authority, instead of placing the application for consideration before the Transport Authority, addressed a letter to the Secretary of the other Regional Transport Authority. Ext. P3 is a copy of the communication which the Secretary of the Regional Transport Authority, Trissur, addressed to the petitioner in which the petitioner was informed that his "application will be placed before the R.T.A. on receipt of the concurrence". Petitioner challenges the action of the Secretary of the Regional Transport Authority, Trissur, in this Original Petition.

(2.) The thrust of the contention raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner is that it was open to the Regional Transport Authority of any one region to grant a permit and it is for the permit holder to apply for counter signature by the Regional Transport Authority of the other region. He relied on S.88(1) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short 'the Act') in support of the contention. The sub-section reads thus:

(3.) Every application for a permit shall be made, under S.69, to the Regional Transport Authority of the region in which it is proposed to use the vehicle. If it is proposed to use the vehicle in two or more regions lying within the same State, the application shall be made to the Regional Transport Authority of the .region in which major portion of the proposed route or area lies. S.72 of the Act empowers the Regional Transport Authority to grant a stage carriage permit of any kind on the application made at any time under the Act. Of course, the Regional Transport Authority has power to summarily reject the application if it falls within the first proviso to S.80 (2).