Appeal No 152 of 1965
Appeal from the judgment and order dated November 13 1964 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Misc
Petition No 373 of 1964
M section Gupta for the appellant
222 B R L Iyengar for the respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Ramaswami J
On August 7 1963 the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur granted to the Punjab Sikh Regular Motor Service hereinafter called the appellant renewal of a stage carriage permit for an inter regional route Saraipalli to Sarangarh in the State of Madhya Pradesh
The permit was valid upto August 5 1963 and by the order of renewal dated August 7 1963 the permit was renewed for a period of three years
On September 13 1963 the appellant applied to the Regional Transport Authority Raipur for renewal of the grant of countersignature on the renewed permit
Respondent No 2 objected to the renewal of the grant of counter signature on the ground that the application of the appellant dated September 13 1963 was barred by time
The Regional Transport Authority Raipur held that the application for renewal of the grant of countersignature was not made within the time prescribed by rule 62 of the Central Provinces and Berar Motor Vehicles Rules but it took the view that the application for renewal had been filed within six weeks of the date of the passing of the order of renewal of the permit by the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur and therefore the application for the renewal of the grant of countersignature could not be rejected on the ground that it was time barred
The Regional Transport Authority Raipur accordingly granted the renewal of the counter signature on the permit by its order dated February 24 1964
Respondent No 2 thereafter applied to the High Court of Madhya Pradesh under article 226 of the Constitution of India for a writ quashing the order dated February 24 1964 passed by the Regional Transport Authority Raipur
The High Court took the view that an application for renewal of the grant of counter signature must be made within the period prescribed by section 58 2 of the and the appellant having failed to apply within that period the application of the appellant for renewal of the counter signature on the permit was barred and the Regional Transport Authority Raipur had no jurisdiction to countersign the permit renewed by the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur
The High Court accordingly quashed the order dated February 24 1964 passed by the Regional Transport Authority Raipur
This appeal is brought by the appellant with a certificate granted by the High Court tinder article 1 33 1 c of the Constitution
It is advisable at this stage to refer to the material provisions of the Act 4 of 1939 which have a bearing 22 3 on the validity of the order of the Regional Transport Authority Raipur dated February 24 1964
Section 45 of the provides that every application for a permit shall be made to the Regional Transport Authority of the region in which it is proposed to use the vehicle or vehicles
By the proviso to section 45 it is enacted that where it is proposed to use the vehicle or vehicles in two or more regions lying within the same State the application shall be made to the Regional Transport Authority of the region in which the major portion of the proposed route or area lies
Section 47 sets out the procedure of the Regional Transport Authority in considering applications for stage carriage permits and prescribes the matters which may be taken into account by that officer ingraining or rejecting the applications for stage carriage permits
Section 48 provides that subject to the provision of section 47a Regional Transport Authority may on an application made to it grant a stage carriage permit in accordance with the application or with such modifications as it deems fit valid for a specified route or routes or a specified area
Section 57 prescribes the procedure in  applying for and granting permits
It is provided by sub section
2 of section 57 that an application for a stage carriage permit or a public carrier s permit shall be made not less than six weeks before the date on which it is desired that the permit shall take effect or if the Regional Transport Authority appoints a date for the receipt of such applications on such date
Section 581 provides that a stage carriage permit or a contract carriage permit other than a temporary permit shall be effective without renewal for such period not less than three years and more than five years as the Regional Transport Authority may specify in the permit
Sub section 2 enacts that a permit may be renewed on an application made and disposed of as if it were an application for a permit provided that the application for the renewal of a permit shall be made a in the case of a stage carriage permit or a public carrier s permit not less than sixty days before the date of its expiry and b in any other case not less than thirty days before the date of its expiry
By sub section
3 the Authority is notwithstanding anything contained in the first proviso to sub section
2 authorised to entertain an application for the renewal of a permit after the last date specified in the said proviso if the application is made not more than fifteen days after the said last date
Section 63 deals with inter regional and inter state permits
The material parts of that section are 1 Except as may be otherwise prescribed a permit granted by the Regional Transport Authority 224 of any one region shall not be valid in any other region unless the permit has been countersigned by the Regional Transport Authority of that other region and a permit granted in any one State shall not be valid in any other State unless countersigned by the State Transport Authority of that other State or by the Regional Transport Authority concerned  Provided     2 A Regional Transport Authority when countersigning the permit may attach to the permit any condition which it might have imposed if it had granted the permit and may likewise vary any condition attached to the permit by the authority by which the permit was granted
3 The provisions of this Chapter relating to the grant revocation and suspension of permits shall apply to the grant revocation and suspension of countersignatures of permits  Provided    
Section 681 confers authority upon the State Government to make rules for the purpose of carying into effect the provisions of Ch
IV of the Act
A stage carriage permit granted by a Regional Transport Authority therefore remains effective without renewal for a period of not less than three years and not more than five years as the authority may specify in the permit
A person desiring to obtain renewal of the permit must in the case of a stage carriage permit make an application not less than sixty days before the date of its expiry and the Authority has to deal with the application for the renewal as if it were an application for a permit
The procedure for obtaining renewal is assimilated to the procedure prescribed for an application for a first permit but in order that there is no interruption in the transport service the Legislature has provided that the application for renewal shall be made not less than sixty days before the date of its expiry it being assumed that the authority would be able in the interval to publish the application and to hear objections to the grant of renewal
Except as may be otherwise prescribed an interregional permit by a Regional Transport Authority in any region
is not valid unless the permit is countersigned by the Regional Transport Authority of that other region
The provisions of Ch
IV relating to the grant revocation and suspension of permits 225 apply to the grant revocation and suspension of countersignatures of permits
The High Court has held in the present case that an appli cation for renewal of counter signature has also to be made not less than sixty days before the date of its expiry and if no such application is made the Regional Transport Authority has no power to countersign the permit and upon that ground the High Court has quashed the order of the Regional Transport Authority Raipur dated February 24 1964 granting countersignature of the permit
It was argued on behalf of the appellant that the period of limitation prescribed by section 58 of the Motor Vehicle  Act cannot be applied to an application for countersignature of a renewed permit
It was submitted that the question of counter signature cannot arise unless and until the permit was first renewed and therefore it was erroneous to say that an application for countersignature should be made even before the permit was renewed and within the time prescribed by section 58
The contrary view was put forward on behalf of respondent No 2
It was contended that in the case of an inter regional route the countersignature of the Regional Transport Authority concerned was essential for the validity and confirmation of the grant made by the Regional Transport Authority having jurisdiction to grant a permit for the inter regional route
It was pointed out that under section 63 3 of the the provisions of Ch
IV relating to grant revocation and suspension of permits apply to the grant revocation and suspension of countersignatures of permits and therefore the provisions of sections 57 and 58 about the making of an application for the grant of a permit the time within which it must be made and the procedure that must be followed apply equally in the matter of the grant of countersignatures and that as section 58 laid down that an application for renewal of a permit must be made in the case of a stage carriage permit not less than sixty days before the date of its expiry it necessarily followed that an application for countersignature of the renewed permit for inter regional route had to be made to the Regional Transport Authority concerned within sixty days before the date of the expiry of the permit
We do not think it is necessary to express any opinion on the contentions advanced by the parties on this aspect of the case for we are of the view that on a proper construction of the rules made by the State Government in regard to the grant of permits and countersignatures of inter regional permits the Regional Transport Authority Raipur was not competent to renew 226 the countersignature on the permit for tile interregional route granted by the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur in the present case
Under the the Central Provinces and Berar Motor Vehicles Rules 1940 were made by the appropriate authority and it is the admitted position that these rules were at the material time in operation in the two regions Bilaspur and Raipur in the State of Madhya Pradesh with which we are concerned
By r 61 it is provided  a Application for the renewal of a permit shall be made in writing to the Regional Transport Authority by which the permit was issued not less than two months in the case of a stage carriage permit or a public carrier s permit and not less than one month in other cases before the expiry of the permit and shall be accompanied by Part A of the permit
The application shall state the period for which the renewal is desired and shall be accompanied by the fee prescribed in rule 55
b The Regional Transport Authority renewing a permit shall call upon the holder to produce part B or Parts A B thereof as the case may be and shall endorse Parts A and B accordingly and shall return them to the holder
 By r 62 cl
a it is provided Subject to the provisions of r 63 application for the renewal of a countersignature on a permit shall be made to the Regional Transport Authority concerned and within the appropriate periods prescribed by Rule 61 and shall subject to the provisions of sub rule b be accompanied by Part A of the permit
The application shall set forth the period for which the renewal of the countersignature is required
By r 63 cl
a it is provided  The authority by which a permit is renewed may unless any authority by which the permit has been countersigned with effect not terminating before the date of expiry of the permit has by general or special order otherwise directed likewise renew any countersignature of the permit by endorsement of the permit in the manner set forth in the appropriate form and shall in such case intimate the renewal to such authority
227 Rule 61 substantially incorporates the provisions of sub section
2 of section 58 of the and the proviso thereto and makes certain incidental provisions
Clause a of r 62 provides that the application for renewal of countersignature of a permit shall be made to the Regional Transport Authority concerned and within the appropriate period prescribed by r 61 but the provisions of r 62a are subject to the provisions of r 63a which confers power upon the Authority which grants renewal of inter regional permit under the first proviso to section 45 to countersign the permit so as to make it valid for the other region covered by the route
Therefore even though by section 63 the power to countersign the pen nit is entrusted to the Regional Transport Authority of the region in which the remaining part of the route is situate the effect of r 63 is that the power to countersign the permit is vested in the Authority which grants the renewal of the permit
The Legislature has by providing in the opening part of sub section
1 of section 63 except as may be otherwise prescribed made the provision subject to the rules framed by the State Government under section 68 of the 
The provisions of r 63 therefore must supersede the direction contained in section 631 of the statute and the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur was competent in the present case to grant countersignature of the pen nit even in so far as it related to the Raipur region
On behalf of the appellant attention was drawn to the expression may in r 63
But in the context and the language of the rule the word may though permissive in form must be held to be obligatory
Under r 63 the power to grant renewal of the countersignature on the permit in the present case is conferred on the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur
The exercise of such power of renewal depends not upon the discretion of the authority but upon the proof of the particular case out of which such power arises
Enabling words are construed as compulsory whenever the object of the power is to effectuate a legal right See Julius vs Bishop of Oxford 1
If the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur had power to renew the countersignature on the permit under r 63 it must be held that the Regional Transport Authority Raipur had no such power under r 62 because the latter rule is expressly made subject to the provisions of rule 63 and the power granted to the Regional Transport Authority under section 62 is taken away by the provisions of r 63
It follows therefore that the Regional Transport Authority Raipur was not competent to renew the countersignature on the permit in the present case and the Regional Transport Autho 1 5 AC 214 244
228 rity Bilaspur was alone competent to renew the countersignature of the permit
We accordingly hold that the order of the Regional Transport Authority Raipur dated February 24 1964 granting countersignature of the permit was illegal and ultra vires and was rightly quashed by the High Court by its order dated November 13 1964
We therefore confirm the order of the High Court but for different reasons
We however desire to make it clear that our order does not affect the validity of the permit granted to the appellant by the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur in so far as it relates to the route within the limits of Bilaspur region
That is the ratio of the decision of this Court in Ms Bundelkhand Motor Transport Company Nowgaon vs Behari Lal Chaurasia and anr1 in which it was pointed out that inter regional permit when granted is valid for the region over which the authority granting the permit has jurisdiction even though it is not countersigned by the proper Regional Transport Authority with regard to the portion of the route outside that region
We accordingly dismiss this appeal
There will be no order as to costs
We desire to express our thanks to Mr Iyengar who acted as amicus curiae in this case
Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur granted the appellant renewal of the stage carriage permit for an inter regional route The appellant thereafter applied to the Regional Transport Authority Raipur for renewal of the grant of counter signature on the renewed permit and it was granted
In an application under article 226 by the 2nd respondent the High Court quashed the order of the Regional Transport Authority Raipur on the ground that the appellant s application for renewel of the counter signature was barred by time
In appeal to this Court HELD  On a proper construction of the Central Provinces and Berar Motor Vehicles Rules made by the State Government in regard to the grant of permits and counter signatures of inter regional permits the Regional Transport Authority Raipur was not competent to renew the counter signature on the permit for the inter regional route granted by the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur and the permit was valid only so far as it related to the route within the limits of Bilaspur region 225 H Even though by section 63 of the  the power to counter sign the permit is entrusted to the Regional Transport Authority of the region in which the remaining part of the route is situate the effect of r 63 is that the power to counter sign the permit is vested in the Authority which grants the renewal of the permit
In the context and the language of the rule the word may in the rule though permissive in form is obligatory
If the Regional Transport Authority Bilaspur had power to renew the counter signature on the permit under the rule it must be held that the Regional Transport Authority Raipur had no such power under r 62 because the latter rule As expressly made subject to the provisions of r 63 and the power granted to the Regional Transport Authority under r 62 is taken away by the provisions of r 63
227 C G Ms Bundelkhand Motors Transport Company vs Beharilal   referred to