AMBALA BUS SYNDICATE PRIVATE Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order will dispose of three connected writ petitions Nos. 299, 300 and 344 of 1968 in which common questions ase involved. It is agreed by the counsel for the parties that the decision in the first petition will govern the cases of the other two also. I would, therefore, refer to the facts of C. W. No. 299 of 1968 only.

(2.) THE Ambala Bus Syndicate (Private) Ltd. , Rnpar, has filed a petition under articles 238 and 227 of the Constitution for quashing the order dated 8th of january, 1968, passed by the State Transport Commissioner, Punjab, res-pondent no. 2. The petitioner company was operating on a number of routes mentioned in para 2 of the writ petition. It was case of the petitioner that under the popularly known as 50 50 scheme, it was compelled to surrender 1066 daily mileage. It was, therefore, entitled to be compensated by the grant of stage carriage permits and increase in the number of services, on the routes on which it was already operating and other routes. By the impugned order, the State Transport commissioner took an ex parte decision and granted temporary stage carriage permits to the National Transport and General Private Co. , Ltd. , Ludhiana, respondent No. 4, and also increased their services by regularising the special operations of respondent No. 4 on the four routes covering 468 miles mentioned in that order. No notice whatsoever of the proposed grant of those permits to respondent No. 4 or for the increase of their services on the routes mentioned in the order was ever given to the petitioner. Everything, according to the petitioner had been done in a clandestine manner without keeping in view the requirements of Section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1989 (hereinafter called the Act ). No opportunity was provided to the petitioner or any other private operator to represent his case or raise any objection to the proposed grant of permits. There was no temporary need within the meaning of Section 62 of the Act shown in existence justifying the grant of temporary permits to re-pondent No. 4. According to the petitioner, manifest injustice had been caused to the company as a result of the impugned order and the petitioner had been deprived of the opportunity to be heard by respondent No. 2, which was contrary to law and principles of natural justice. That led to the filing of the first writ petition on 29th of January 1968.

(3.) THE impugned order consists of three parts: The first one deals with the regularisa-tion of special trips of respondent No. 4 on four routes mentioned therein covering 468 miles. The second part mentions the grant of temporary permits to respondent No. 4 for a period of four months on the four routes mentioned there covering 672 miles. The third part speaks of the grant of 17 temporary stage carriage permits to the Punjab Roadways on Chandigarh-Ludhiana route for plying 17 return trips daily for a period of four months to cover their special operations which had been regularised. In the present writ petition the Punjab Roadways has not been made a party and the first two parts of the impugned order are being challenged by the petitioner company.