Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
PHOOL CHAND GUPTA
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
REGIONAL TANSPORT AUTHORITY, UJJAIN & ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT23/08/1985
BENCH:
VENKATARAMIAH, E.S. (J)
BENCH:
VENKATARAMIAH, E.S. (J)
MISRA, R.B. (J)
CITATION:
1986 AIR 119 1985 SCR Supl. (2) 682
1985 SCC (4) 190 1985 SCALE (2)334
CITATOR INFO :
R 1986 SC 242 (2)
F 1986 SC1719 (4)
F 1987 SC1324 (2)
ACT:
Constitution of India 1950, Article 32 and 19(1) (g)
Delay in publication of approved scheme under section 68-D
of Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 - Whether violate fundamental
right. Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, sections 68-C and 68-D
Publication of draft scheme - Approved scheme not published
even after 20 years - Application for stage carriage permit
for route covered by the draft scheme kept pending by
Regional Transport Authority whether valid - Inordinate
delay in publication of draft scheme - Whether violates
fundamental rights.
Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, sections 68-C and 68-D -
Publication of draft scheme - Approved scheme not published
even after 20 years - Application for stage carriage permit
for route covered by the draft scheme kept pending by
Regional Transport Authority whether valid - Inordinate
delay in publication of draft scheme - Whether violates
fundamental rights.
HEADNOTE:
The petitioner applied to the Regional Transport
Authority for the issuance of a stage carriage permit under
the Motor Vehicles Act 1939 to operate a stage carriage
service on a route in the year 1968. Since a draft scheme
prepared by the State Road Transport Corporation under
section 68-C of the Act covering the said route had been
published in the year 1965 proposing to operate stage
carriage service on the route to the exclusion of other
operators ant the said scheme hat not yet been published as
the approved scheme as required by section 68-D of the Act,
his application was kept pending the regional Transport
Aauthority.
In the writ petition under Article 32 the petitioner
sought to quash the draft scheme of the State Road Transport
Corporation ant to direct the respondents not to take any
further steps pursuant to the draft scheme because the
approved scheme hat not been published even after a lapse of
20 years and this inordinate delay has resulted in the
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violation of the fundamental right guarantee under Article
l9(1)(g).
Allowing the petition,
^
HELD: 1. If there has been unreasonable delay in the
publication of the approved scheme under section 68-D of the
Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, the scheme is liable to be
quashed, [686 D]
683
2. There is no justification in the circumstances of
this case to keep the proceedings pending any longer. The
fact that the Central Government and the State Government
have not given their approval/consent to the scheme cannot
be considered as an extending circumstance. [686 D-E]
Yogeshwar Jaiswal etc. v. State Transport Appellate
Tribunal and Ors. A.I.R. 1985 S.C. 516 followed.
3. The draft scheme, that 18, scheme No- 72 of 1965
published under section 68-C of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939
ant all the proceedings which have taken place pursuant
thereto till now including the order passed by the Special
Secretary of the Government of Madhya Pradesh on are quashed
and the direction issued to the respondents not to take any
further proceedings hereafter pursuant to the salt scheme.
[686 E-F]
4. The draft scheme which was published in the year
1965 has not yet received the approval under section 68-D
of the Act and is not published as required by law. No
satisfactory explanation is also forthcoming for this delay.
During the period of 20 years since the publication of the
draft scheme there has been lot of development in or around
the area of routes covered by lt. Hence lt can no longer be
said that the proposal in the draft scheme would satisfy the
requirement- of section 68-C of the Act which provides that
the transport service which is prepared to be introduced in
respect of any route or area to the exclusion, complete or
partial, of all other operators should be an efficient,
adequate, economical and properly coordinated service. [685
B, 686 B-Cl
5. The State Transport Undertaking can take fresh steps
for publishing a scheme under section 68-C of the Act in
respect of the route or area in question if thought
necessary to do so. It is not necessary to revive the
application allegedly made in the year 1968 at this distance
of time. petitionary, if advised may file fresh application
which shall be disposed of according to law. [686 F-H, 689
A]
JUDGMENT:
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION : Writ Petition (Civil) No. 8085
of 1985.
(Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India.)
R.K. Jain and R.P. Singh for the Petitioner.
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Ravinder Bana and Rameshwar Nath for the Respondents.
The Judgement of the Court was delivered by
VENKATARAMIAH, J. This is a petition filed under
Article 32 of the Constitution. The petitioner applied to
the Regional Transport Authority Ujjain in the State of
Madhya Pradesh for the issuance of a stage carriage permit
under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939
(hereinafter referred to as ’the Act’) to operate a stage
carriage service on the route between Bhadavmata and
Mandsaur in the year 1968. Since a draft scheme prepared by
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the Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (the
State Transport Undertaking) under section 68-C of the Act
covering the said route had been published as scheme No. 72
in the year 1965 proposing to operate stage carriage
services on the route to the exclusion of other operators
and the said scheme had not yet been published as the
approved scheme as required by section 68-D of the Act his
application was kept pending by the Regional Transport
Authority, Ujjain Region, Ujjain by its order dated January
20, 1977. Because the approved scheme has not been published
till today even after the lapse of 20 years from the date of
its publication under section 68-C of the Act the petitioner
has filed this petition requesting the court to quash the
draft scheme No. 72 of 1965 and to direct the State
Government, the State Transport Undertaking and the
Transport Authorities not to take any further steps pursuant
to the said draft scheme.
When the above petition came up for preliminary
hearing on July 29, 1985 a notice was issued to the State
Government of Madhya Pradesh to show cause why the draft
scheme and all proceedings consequent upon its publication
should not be quashed. In reply to the said notice a counter
Affidavit has been filed, the deponent of which 18 B.M.
Saxena, Traffic Superintendent, Madhya Pradesh State Road
Transport Corporation, Bhopal. In the counter affidavit it
18 stated that the draft scheme, that is, Scheme No.72 was
published under section 68-C of the Act on December 31,
1965. The objections and representations filed in respect of
the said scheme were heart by the Special Secretary
appointed by the State Government to hear the objections and
that the objections and representations were disposed of by
him by his order dated May 16, 1967. Thereafter, the entire
proceedings were placed before the State Government for its
approval and publications under sub-sections (2) and (3) of
section 68-D of the Act. It would appear that the scheme in
question involved certain
685
inter-State routes and that it had to be approved by the
Central Government as required by the proviso to sub-section
(3) of section 68-D of the Act and also assented to by the
State Government of Rajasthan. The State Government had not
been able to obtain till now the requisite approval/consent
of the Central Government or the State Government of
Rajasthan and thus it has not been possible to publish the
approved scheme.
From the foregoing it is clear that the draft scheme
which was published in the year 1965 has not yet received
the approval under section 68-D of the Act and published as
required by law. No satisfactory explanation is also
forthcoming for this delay. The petitioner contends that
this inordinate delay has resulted in the violation of the
fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19(1) (g) of the
Constitution. In support of his contention, the petitioner
has relied upon a decision of this Court in Yogeshwar
Jaiswal etc. v. State Transport Appellate Tribunal & Ors.
A.I.R. 1985 S.C. 516. In that decision this Court has
observed at pages 518-519 thus:
"The provisions of section 68C and 68D of the Act
clearly indicate that any scheme which is intended
for providing efficient, adequate, economical or
properly co-ordinated transport service should be
approved either as it is or in a modified form or
rejected, as the case may be, within a reasonably
short time as any extraordinary delay is bound to
upset all or any of the factors, namely,
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efficiency, adequacy, economy or co-ordination
which ought to govern an approved scheme under
Chapter IVA of the Act. On account of various
reasons such as the growth of population and the
development of the geographical area adjacent to
the area or route in question, any unreasonable
delay may render the very proposal contained in
the scheme antiquated, outmoded and purposeless.
Hence there is need for speedy disposal of the
case under section 68D of the Act.................
Delay in performance of statutory duties amounts
to an abuse of process of law and has to be
remedied by the court particularly when the public
interest suffers thereby. Hence if there is an
unreasonably long and un-explained delay in the
State Government passing orders under section 68D
of the Act, the Court may issue a mandamus to the
State Government to dispose of
686
the case under section 68D of the Act within a
specified time or may in an appropriate case even
issue a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing
the scheme and a writ in the nature of prohibition
under section 68C of the Act because section 68D
does not confer an unfettered discretion on the
State Government to deal with the case as it
likes. The power under section 68D has to be
exercised having due regard to the public
interest.
It is not denied that during the period of 20 years
since the publication of the draft scheme there has been lot
of development in or around the area or routes covered by
it. Hence it can no longer be said that the proposal in the
draft scheme would satisfy the requirements of section 68-C
of the Act which provides that the transport service which
is proposed to be introduced in respect of any route or area
to the exclusion, complete or partial, of all other
operators should be efficient, adequate, economical and
properly co-ordinated service. This Court has given
substantial reasons in Yogeshwar Jaiswal’s case (supra) for
quashing a scheme published under section 68-D of the Act if
there has been unreasonable delay in the publication of the
approved scheme under section 68-D of the Act. We do not
find that there is any justification in the circumstances of
this case to keep the proceedings pending any longer. The
fact that the Central Government and the State Government of
Rajasthan have not given their approval/consent to the
scheme cannot be considered as an extenuating circumstance.
We, therefore, quash the draft scheme, that is, scheme
No. 72 of 1965 published under section 68-C of the Act and
all the proceedings which have taken place pursuant thereto
till now including the order passed by the Special Secretary
of the Government of Madhya Pradesh thereon and we issue a
direction to the respondents not to take any further
proceedings hereafter pursuant to scheme No. 72 of 1965.
This order does not prevent the State Transport
Undertaking of the State of Madhya Pradesh from taking fresh
steps for publishing a scheme under section 68-C if it
thinks that it is necessary to do so. As regards the
application said to have been made by the petitioner in the
year 1968, we feel that it is not necessary to revive it at
this distance of time. The petitioner may if he is so
advised file a fresh application for a permit and
687
if he makes such an application it shall be disposed of in
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accordance with law after inviting objections and
representations to it from the concerned parties.
This petition is accordingly allowed. There shall be no
order as to costs.
A.P.J. Petition allowed.
688