HAJI M ABDULLA Vs. RTO KOZHIKODE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition, Mr. V. M. B. Menon, learned counsel for the petitioner, requests this Court to issue a writ of mandamus directing the respondent, namely the Regional Transport Officer, which is the Registering Authority, Kozhikode, from suspending the registration of the petitioners jeep, K.L.D. 4376, and also to compel the said respondent to deliver up the registration certificate of the said jeep to the petitioner, after duly endorsing the transfer of ownership.

(2.) It is unnecessary to consider the nature of the relief that is to be granted to the petitioner, because the learned Government Pleader, appearing for the respondent in this case, in view of the judgment that is being immediately delivered herein, has agreed to deliver the registration certificate of the vehicle to the petitioner immediately. Regarding the second prayer that is asked for in this writ petition, namely to compel the respondent to endorse the transfer of ownership of the vehicle, that will have to abide the directions to be given later in this judgment.

(3.) The circumstances under which the writ petition came to be field may be briefly stated. According to the petitioner, he became the owner of the jeep bearing registration No. K.L.D. 4376, by obtaining a transfer from its original owner, namely one Neelikandi Abdulla alias Kunhipokker, on 25th July 1962. The petitioner also states that he made an application on 7th August 1962 to the respondent herein, requesting the said authority to register the vehicle in his name and also making a further request to have the registration certificate amended accordingly. That application must obviously be one sent under S.31(b) of the Motor Vehicles Act. But, according to the petitioner, no action as such in respect of the requests made by him was being taken by the authority; on the other hand he was informed by a communication Ext. P 1 dated 6th September 1962 that the transfer of ownership of the vehicle will be effected after the charge under S.33(1)(b) in respect of the said vehicle was disposed of. It is also mentioned in that communication that the registration certificate and insurance certificate of the vehicle are retained in the office of the respondent in the meanwhile.