JHAMAKLAL BALMUKUND BASER Vs. STATE TRANSPORT AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall also govern the disposal of M. P. No. 892 of 1989 (Prasanna Vhandra Chordiya and Anr. v. The Secretary, S. T. A. , M. P. , Gwalior and Anr. ). The points which arise for determination in both these petitions being identical despite the facts being different, both the petitions are being disposed of by this common order.

(2.) M. P. No. 891 of 1989 is filed by the petitioners who are Ws operators plying passenger buses on the strength of permits granted to them by the Regional Transport Authority, Ujjain Region, Ujjaih. They hold permits for plying stage, carriage vehicles for the route Mandsaur-Neemuch and Neemuch-Rampura. By this petition the petitioners challenge grant of counter signatures on the temporary permit granted to respondent No. 3' by Secretary, RTA, Kota on the route Rawatbhata-Neemuch, Via Gandhi Sagar, Rampura and Manasa, which is an inter-State route within the meaning of the Second Proviso of Section 45 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The total length of the route is 132 kms. out of which a major portion of this route i. e. 84 kms. is situated within the jurisdiction of the State of M. P. and the remaining portion lies in the State of Rajasthan. The route in question Rawatbhata-Neemuch is covered by the draft scheme No. 91, published under section 68c of the Motor Vehicles Apt. According to the petitioners the question of grant of temporary permit on the route in question, it being an inter-State route, is governed by the reciprocal transport agreement arrived at between the States of M. P. and Rajasthan, which is published in the Official Gazette dated 3-4-1975. In the said agreement, amongst 99 routes, the route Rawatbhata-Neemuch is not an agreed route. Therefore, no permit could be granted on the route which is not an agreed route in the reciprocal transport agreement. Therefore, the grant of permit and the counter signature on that permit by the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Transport Authorities respectively are without jurisdiction and illegal. Other points are also raised challenging the grant of temporary permit, but we do not propose to deal with those contentions in view of the fact that the duration of the temporary permit has already expired. However, the competency of the Transport Authorities to grant an inter-State temporary permit on a route not covered by a reciprocal transport agreement being a larger issue we propose to decide this issue only.

(3.) IN M. P. No. 892 of 1989 the petitioner has challenged the grant of temporary permit on the inter-State route Neemuch-Jhalawar Road, via Jawasia-Manasa-Rampura-Chambal Dam-Bhanpura inter alia on the ground that the route in question is specified in the reciprocal transport agreement arrived at between the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan after complying with the requirrments under section 63 (3a) of the Act and the agreement has been published in the M. P. Government Gazette dated 3-4-1975 as required under sub-section (3-B) of section 63 of the Motor Vehicles Act. According to that agreement eight single trips to be plied by six buses by the M. P. State nominees are permissible. The eight trips, as agreed in the agreement, are already being operated by the M. P. Operators in accordance with the terms of the reciprocal agreement. Therefore, there being no scope on the route for issuance of an additional permit, the temporary permit could not be issued as it is against the reciprocal agreement.