PALAKURTI VENKATA RAO Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) . In these petitions, certiorari is sought in respect of two orders, G. O. Ms. No. 2948 dated 22-12-1958 approving the scheme of nationalisation as initiated by State Transport Undertaking and the order of the Regional Transport Authority, Krishna District in Memorandum No. 23400/A5/58 dated 24-12-1958 rendering the permits granted to the petitioners ineffective as from 25-12-1958 in pursuance of the scheme.

(2.) . The facts that are needed to make what we are going to say intelligible may be briefly stated. In the year 1956. the Motor Vehicles Act was amended by inserting Chapter IV under Central Act 100 of 1956. Under Section 68-A, occurring in that chapter, a State Transport Undertaking could he formed by a State Government. Section 68-C enabled the State Transport Undertaking to prepare and publish a scheme for the purpose of providing an efficient, adequate, economical and properly co-ordinate transport service in public interest. In exercise of the powers conferred by this section, the State Transport Undertaking, Andhra Pradesh promulgated a scheme providing for the Undertaking to ply buses to the exclusion of every one else on all the routes specified therein in Krishna District. The petitioners and also a number of other per-sons, who were carrying on motor transport business in Krishna district, filed objections to the approval of the scheme by the Government as required by Section 68-D. These objections were heard by the Secretary in charge of the Transport Department. The State Government, overruling all the objections, approved the said scheme in G. O. Ms. No. 58, Home, on 7-1-1958. Two days thereafter, a Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter referred as the Corporation) was constituted. This body was empowered to take over the management of the existing Road Transport Undertaking and to enforce the scheme approved as mentioned.

(3.) . Many of the operators approached this Court invoking its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. The petitions were dismissed for the reasons set out in the Judgment reported in Gopala-krishnayya v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1958-2 Andh WR 211: (AIR 1959 Andh Pra 292). These matters were taken up in appeal to the Supreme Court, While these appeals were pending, some of the operators filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution in the Supreme Court for the enforcement of their fundamental rights to carry on their business of motor transport and for prohibiting the State Government from taking over the routes on which they were plying their stage carriages. Several contentions were raised in support of the appeals. While rejecting most of them, the Supreme Court accepted the argument that the enquiry undertaken by the authorities concerned under Section 68-D was not consistent with the principles of natural justice in that the hearing was given by the Secretary, while the decision was taken by the Chief Minister and that since the Secretary must be said to be biased in favour of the Transport Department, a hearing given by him offended the principles of natural justice. Consequently, the scheme as approved was quashed by a majority judgment of 3 : 2. Two of the learned Judges dissented from this view expressing the opinion that the act performed by the State Government in approving the scheme was an administrative one and that the procedure" adopted by the Government did not involve any violation of the principles of natural justice.