KESAVA RAO Vs. SUBBARAJU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the Judgment of Balakrishna Ayyar J. quashing an order of the Government G. O. No. 230, Home d/ 22-1-1952, passed under Sec. 64-A of the Motor Vehicles Act (hereinafter referred to as " the Act"). On 12-12-1950, the Regional Transport Authority, West Godavari (hereinafter referred to, for the sake of brevity, as R. T. A.) granted a stage carriage permit on the route between Narasapur and Juvvalapalem to one K. Kesava Rao who was selected from among 33 applicants for the reason that "(a) his father was the first bus operator in the district and he has sufficient property to buy a bus and (b) the claims of the others arc inferior. " Seven of the disappointed applicants for the permit including one K. Subbaraju applied to the Central Road Traffic Board, Madras (hereinafter referred to as C. R. T. B.) which passed an order on 31-3-1951 setting aside the order of the R. T. A. granting the permit to K. Kesavarao and directing the permit to be given to K. Subbaraju. The reason given by the C. R. T. B. for its order was as follows :

(2.) The order of the Central Road Traffic Board was reversed by the Government by its order G. O. No. 2170 dated 30-5-1951 under which the permit was directed to be granted to K. Kesavarao. In the course of its order, the Government observed :

(3.) This second order of the Government was again quashed by Balakrishna Ayyar J. in Writ Petition No. 273 of 1952 on the following grounds: (1) The power conferred on Government by Sec. 64-A of the Act was not a plenary power but a corrective power to be exercised in a judicial manner and for proper reasons. (2) The order of the C. R. T. B., was based on a principle, the soundness of which was accepted by the Government in its order. (3) The order of the Government did not state in what respect the order of the C. R. T. B. was illegal, irregular or improper. We may state that this is our own summary of the reasoning of the learned Judge.