(1.) The reliefs sought by the 12 applicants before us in these 12 applications are that this Court may be pleased to issue:
(2.) The facts which have given rise to these applications may be stated shortly The applicants are owners of motor buses I shall deal with their cases individually, but for the broad facts I shall rely upon the statement of facts as given by and agreed to by the parties in the affidavit filed in support of application No. 189 of 1950, namely, that of Makhan Lal. The applicants ply buses on the highways indicated in their affidavits. The case of Makhan Lal is that he had his principal place of business in the Meerut Region. He entered the transport business in 1942 and started carrying passengers on hire by means of a stage carriage by employing motor vehicle no. USV 59. This motor vehicle was, prior to his taking over the business in 1942, under the ownership of another proprietor who had been granted a permanent permit no 391 under the Motor Vehicles Act,1939. The motor vehicle USV 59 was later replaced by the applicant on 11-5-1950 by motor vehicle USA 1589. The permanent permit issued to his transferor was valid up to 1943 and it was renewed on an application made by the applicant to the Regional Transport Authority up to 1946. On the expiry of the above regular permit the applicant made an application for its renewal and enclosed with that application a non-judicial stamp of Rs. 5 Instead of granting a regular permit the Regional Transport Authority issued to him a temporary permit. Subsequently on the expiry of the temporary permit which had been issued in lieu of renewal, temporary permits continued to be issued to him right up to the end of 1949. In the temporary permits issued to him in lieu of renewals, it is clearly stated that as a permanent permit no.391 was already held by the permit holder, no fee prescribed by the rules for granting temporary permits was being charged from the applicant.
(3.) On 21-6-1949 the applicant was served with a notice by the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, meerut, This notice was to he following effect: