SUCHET SINGH Vs. STATE OF J. AND K.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner who is the president of the Jammu R.S. Pora Bus Union which runs its buses on Jammu -Ranbirshingh Pura and Jammu Bishnah routes has moved this Court under Article 32(2 -A) of the Constitution of India read with Section 103 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir seeking a writ of certiorari quashing notification No. SRO -42 dated 24 -2 -1964 exempting persons carried in City Buses mentioned in the said notification from the operation of the Jammu and Kashmir Passenger Taxation Act of 1463 (Act No. 12 of 1963) (which hereinafter will be referred to as 'the Act').

(2.) THE notification has been challenged by the petitioner alleging inter alia that the State of Jammu and Kashmir also maintains and plies City Bus Services upto Kalu Chak (Ismail Pur), Camp Rehari (Bori) and other places in Jammu and Shalimar. Harwan, Batwara, Soura, Naseem Bagh and other places in Sri -nagar, that the buses plied by Jammu Ranbirsingh Pura Bus Union also pass through some of the routes mentioned in the impugned Notification, that the Act authorises the levy of passenger tax on all fares in respect of all passengers carried by Motor Vehicles at rate not exceeding 30 per cent of the value of the fare as may be notified by the Government from time to time in this behalf subject to a minimum of 2 paise, that Section 10 of the Act authorises the Government to grant exemption to any person or class of persons from the operation of all or any of the provisions of the Act if in its opinion such exemption would be expedient in public interest, that the Government has in exercise of the powers conferred on it by the aforesaid section of the Act issued the impugned notification exempting from the operation of the Act persons carried in the City Buses mentioned in the notification, and that whereas persons travelling by the buses maintained and plied by the Jammu -Ranbirsingh Pura Bus Union on the routes mentioned in the notification are subject to payment of the tax, the passengers travelling in the City -Buses mentioned in the impugned notification have not in consequence thereof to pay any such tax.

(3.) THE petition has been resisted by the State inter alia on the grounds that the petitioner has no locus standi to file the petition, that the petition is not maintainable as other efficacious remedies are open to the petitioner, that the buses plying on Ranbirsingh Pura and Bishnah routes use a part of the route of some of the City bus services in Jammu City, that the buses of the City Bus Service have whole or main part of the routes within the City limits, only some of them being plied on short distances beyond those limits, that Section 10 of the Act is not ultra vires of the Constitution, that the words "public interest or similar word" do not give any arbitrary power to the State as these words have well settled connotation and have acquired a meaning which is well understood by all, that the respondent while carrying on any business undertaking is a class by itself and any discrimination made in its favour is not open to challenge under Article 14 of the Constitution that the respondent does and has means to provide better amenities of service to the persons carried in by their vehicles of City Bus Service, that Motor Vehicles Transport is lifeline of the State and the only means for land communication in different parts thereof and also with the rest of India, that nationalization of this Industry is a policy of the respondent and this is also in the interest of the general public and thus nationalized transport stands on a special footing and needs all encouragement and concessions, that tourists and pilgrims from all over the world visit Srinagar and Jammu all the year round, that it is these tourists and pilgrims as also the students that use the city bus service in very large numbers and the exemption granted by means of the impugned notification being in public interest is valid.