GURDEEP SINGH Vs. STATE OF J&K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Briefly put, the facts as projected in writ petition on hand are that petitioner is a Transporter by profession and engaged in the business of carrying passengers for hire from one place to another and for doing so, owns and operates a fleet of transport vehicles commonly known as Passenger Buses. Petitioner is doing his business under the name and style of M/s Pritam Bus Service.

(2.) Respondent No.5, i.e. Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation ( J&KSRTC in short), which claims to have exclusive right to operate their buses on Jammu- Srinagar national highway, suffers from acute shortage of buses and other infrastructural requirement. Respondent No.5 was, thus, not in a position to meet the demand of buses, which were required by respondent No.7 for carriage of its troops from Jammu to Khanabal-Srinagar and back. In view of failure on the part of respondent No.5 to meet the requirement of Army authorities, respondent No.7 with the permission of respondent No.5 decided to carry its troops by engaging the transport vehicles from private transporters at affordable cost. The troops movement from Jammu to Srinagar and back is necessitated due to the law and order situation in the Valley and to guard the frontiers of the country. Keeping in view the requirement of Army and the failure of Respondent No.5 to provide adequate fleet of buses to meet the emergent situation, Respondent No.6, vide his Order dated 27th March 2006, promulgated a policy in this regard and made a provision for calling of open bids from the interested parties to carry out the job of transporting Army troops from Jammu to Srinagar and back. In pursuance of the policy decision of Respondent No.6, Respondent No.7 invited bids for Civil Hired Contract (CHT) for carrying the troops from Jammu to Khanabal-Srinagar and back in the year 2008-09. Petitioner along with others participated in the bids and eventually emerged as successful bidder.

(3.) While the contract for carrying the troops had been awarded in favour of petitioner, respondent No.1 vide order dated 22nd February 2008 ordered, inter alia, that private transporter shall ply their vehicles under the control of Managing Director, J&K SRTC. This communication was challenged by KMD Association Private Limited in the Srinagar Wing of this Hon ble Court. The Hon ble Court, vide its order dated 25th March 2008, stayed communication dated 22nd February 2008. The petitioner, thus, successfully carried out the contract in the year 2008-09, though unnecessary and uncalled for hindrances were created by respondents Nos. 1 to 5.