PREMRAJAN Vs. R T O KANNUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER to whom a permit was granted by the Regional transport Authority (for short 'the Transport authority') to operate bus service with a stage carriage on a particular route, has surrendered the permit. His grievance is that the Transport Authority has not so far passed any orders on his application surrendering the permit, Hence he has filed this original Petition for a writ of mandamus or such other appropriate writ, direction or order to the Transport Authority to accept surrender of permit and also to issue a certificate to the effect that the vehicle is not covered by any permit.

(2.) PETITIONER was operating bus service with stage carriage KRC 6471 on the route Thalassery - Edakkanam. He found the service uneconomical. Hence he wanted to withdraw the service from the said route. He gave intimation to the Secretary of the Transport Authority which issued the permit and surrendered the permit. Ext. P1 is the application made by him mentioning the fact of surrender and requesting him to accord the surrender and to issue a certificate that the vehicle is not covered by a route permit.

(3.) WHAT should aholder do if he does not want to operate the permit? (Unless he transfers the same after obtaining the permission of the transport authority ). R. 217 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (for short 'the rules') enjoins a duty on him to give one month's notice to the Transport authority which issued the permit, of his intention to withdraw from service. On receipt of such a notice, the Transport Authority has to publish a copy of it on the notice board of the office. This is evidently to enable others to have advance knowledge that the particular stage carriage would be off that route after a month. Such notice is intended to help passengers and also persons interested in applying for a permit on the same route. R. 217 further provides that the holder of a permit who proposes to withdraw from service, after giving the notice, shall surrender the permit on the date from which he withdraws from service. R. 183 of the Kerala Rules reads thus: "permit-cancellation on surrender.-- (1) The holder of a permit may at any time surrender it to any Transport Authority and thereupon the permit shall be deemed to have been cancelled with effect from the date of such surrender. (2) Where the Transport Authority to which the permit has been surrendered for cancellation is not the authority which issued the permit, such authority shall forthwith forward the permit to the Transport Authority which issued the permit". This should be read along with R. 217 of the Rules. A permit holder cannot surrender the permit without giving one month's notice as provided in R. 217. A permit shall be deemed to have been cancelled with effect from the date of surrender only if it was preceded by the notice. If he surrenders the permit without giving any such notice, it is open to the Transport authority to refrain from recognising the surrender. But if the surrender is made after giving notice as provided in R. 217, the Transport Authority need not pass any formal order, cancelling the permit. However, it is only proper that the Transport Authority, which declines to accept the surrender for want of due notice, informs the permit holder that the surrender is not acceptable as the same was not done in accordance with law.