BHERULAL Vs. STATE TRANSPORT APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, RAJASTHAN, JAIPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ application raises an important question viz. whether the first proviso to Sub -section (1) of Section 45 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (Act No. 4 of 1939) (which will hereinafter be referred to as 'the Act'), applies to the case of an application for a temporary permit also. It reads as under :

(2.) THE question arises in the following circumstances. There is Shahpura -Kekri route of 40 miles, out of which 16 miles He in Udaipur region and 24 miles lie in Jaipur region. The petitioner applied for a temporary permit on this route to Regional Transport Authority, Udaipur. The non -petitioner No. 3 Messrs. Kailash Bus Service, which is the existing operator on this route, opposed the application filed by the petitioner on two grounds viz. (1) that applications for grant of a new permit on the route in question under Section 46 of the Act were pending before the Regional Transport Authority, Jaipur and, therefore, no temporary permit could be granted in respect of this route, and (2) that the Regional Transport Authority, Udaipur has no jurisdiction to entertain the application, as the major portion of the route lies within the region of the Regional Transport Authority, Jaipur. The objections raised by the non -petitioner No. 3 were overruled and the Regional Transport Authority, Udaipur by its resolution dated 27th November, 1974 (Ex. P/1) allowed the petitioner's application and granted temporary permit to him on the route in question for a period of four months commencing from 9 December, 1974 to 8 April, 1975.

(3.) IT has been held by this Court in Aman Khan v. Sheo Onkar, AIR 1968 Raj 161 that 'Section 45 is in the nature of a complete Code so far as the filing of applications over inter -regional routes is concerned.' It was observed that 'the obvious purpose underlying the proviso (1) to Sub -section (1) to Section 45 of the Act, therefore, was to remove uncertainty about the forum which had to be approached and it was, therefore, clearly provided as to before which authority an application for a permit on the inter regional route was to be made.'