RAJESH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioners operate a public service vehicle and have a stage carriage permit. The permits were granted on different dates and were valid for a period of five years. In other words, the permits were valid for periods upto 2009, 2010, 2011. The petitioners were plying their vehicles on the strength of said stage carriage permits granted under the provisions of the Motor vehicles Act, 1988. A decision was taken by south Bihar Regional Transport Authority constituted under the said Act after the permits were granted to the petitioners restricting the life of motor vehicles under the permits to fifteen years. In other words, the decision was that the vehicle owners, who were operating vehicles which had crossed the age of fifteen years since original registration, they were required to replace the vehicles under those permits by newer vehicles. Effectively on petitioners not replacing their old vehicle with newer vehicle, the petitioners' permits were cancelled. This brought the petitioners to this Court. Shri badri Narayan Singh, learned counsel appearing in support of the writ petition submits that if no stage carriage permit is issued to motor vehicle which is stage carriage then the motor vehicle becomes a useless commodity. In other words, the effect of denial of permit to such vehicles would be their apparent death. This, it is submitted, cannot be done by authorities under the act except as provided in the Act itself. Reference is made to Section 41 (7) and Section 59 of the Act. On the other hand, learned counsel for the State submits that the authorities are not cancelling either the certificate of registration or the certificate of fitness of vehicle. They are merely denying permits to old vehicles, The petitioners, it is submitted by the respondents, have no right to keep plying old vehicles which causes not only pollution but inconvenience to passengers. The issue, in my view, is thus whether a life of a motor vehicle can be fixed by the regional Transport Authority or not.

(2.) HAVING heard the parties and with their consent, the writ application is being disposed of at the stage of admission itself.

(3.) PRIOR to the enactment and enforcement of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 under the then existing Motor Vehicles Act and the rules framed thereunder, there were no provisions with regard to age limit of motor vehicle. Such provisions appear to have been introduced. Such a provision was introduced for the first time in the Act that is by the motor Vehicles Act, 1988. I may notice two such provisions. One is Section 41 (7) of the motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the other is section 59 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 : 41. Registration, how to be made. (7) A certificate of registration issued under sub-section (3), whether before or after the commencement of this Act, in respect of a motor vehicle, other than a transport vehicle, shall, subject to the provisions contained in this Act, be valid only for a period of fifteen years from the date of issue of such certificate and shall be renewable.