109 of 1961
Writ Petition under article 32 of the Constitution of India for enforcement of the Fundamental Rights
M O Setalvad Attorney General of India B R L Iyengar and K P Bhat for the petitioner
A V Viswanatha Sastri R Gopalakrishnan and T M Sen for the respondents
April 12
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DAS GUPTA J
The petitioner who is the proprietor of the Shaheen Motor Service used to ply a motor bus for hire on the route Archalli to Saravanabelgola in Hassan District in the State of Mysore
A scheme under section 68 C of the of 1939 having been published by the Mysore Transport Undertaking the petitioner as one of the persons affected thereby filed objections to the scheme before the State Government under section 68 D1 of the Act
The State Government however after considering the objections a id hearing the petitioner approved the scheme subject to a slight modification with which we arc not concerned
This approval was given on December 22 1959
In pursuance of this approved scheme the State Transport Undertaking the 2nd respondent before us made applications for permits but before the Regional Transport Authority could issue such permits the present petition was filed praying in the first place for a writ of certiorari to quash the scheme and some consequential directions and secondly for a wait of 911 prohibition to the Regional Transport Authority Hassan District who is the third respondent before us to refrain from dealing with the applications for permit made by the 2nd respondent unless and until they are duly published and notice thereof is given to the petitioner and he is allowed to make his representation thereon regarding their compliance or otherwise with the conditions of section 68 F1 of Chapter IV A
After learned counsel for the petitioner had been heard this Court by its order dated March 21 1961 granted leave to the petitioner to amend the writ petition so as to confine it to the second prayer only and directed a rule to issue only in respect of this second prayer
The only question with which we are therefore now concerned is whether a writ should issue prohibiting the Regional Transport Authority Hassan District from dealing with the applications for permits made by the State Transport Undertaking unless and until they are duly published and notice thereof is given to the petitioner and he is allowed to make his representations thereon
The petitioners case as regards this prayer is that under the law no permit can be granted to the State Transport Undertaking until the applications for permit have been duly published and notice has been given to the petitioner of those applications
In support of this proposition learned counsel advanced two arguments firstly that section 573 in Chapter IV of the Act requires such prior publication with notice of the date before which representations in connection with the application may be submitted and that in consequence of section 68 B of Chapter IV A the above provisions of section 573 of Chapter IV have to be followed
The second argument is that the Regional Transport Authority acts in a quasi judicial capacity when dealing with applications for permits made under section 68 F and so the petitioner who will be affected by the issue of the permits is entitled to notice
Section 68 B on which reliance has been placed provides inter alia that the provisions of Chapter IV A 912 shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in Chapter IV
It says nothing positive as regards any of the provisions of Chapter IV being applicable to matters under Chapter IV A but provides negatively that if any question arises as regards any provisions of the Act in Chapter IV A and there is difficulty in applying it on the ground that there is conflict between it and some provisions of Chapter IV the provisions of Chapter IV A will prevail
Mr Iyengar has argued that it is implicit in this provision that if there is no such difficulty all the provisions of Chapter IV will apply to matters dealt with under Chapter IV A
This argument in our opinion is fallacious
All that section 68 B pre supposes is that there are some provisions in Chapter IV which may apply to matters under Chapter IV A on that assumption it proceeds to say that if on a matter to which provisions of Chapter IV would prima facie apply there is a provision in Chapter IV A also which appears applicable the provision in Chapter IV A will prevail to the extent of its inconsistency with the corresponding provision in Chapter IV
As to what provisions in Chapter IV will apply or not section 68 B says nothing and provides no guidance either expres sly or by implication
To find out whether a particular provision in Chapter IV not being inconsistent with any provisions in Chap
IV A will apply or not to a matter under Chapter IV A we have to examine the matter in question and then decide whether it is of such a nature that it attracts that particular provision of Chapter IV
What then is the matter dealt with under section 68 F1 with which we are concerned in the present case Section 68 F1 comes into operation when a scheme has already been approved by the State Government under section 68 D2
In order that the approved scheme may be implemented the State Transport Undertaking which is to run and operate
the Transport Service under the scheme must have a permit from the Regio nal Transport Authority
Section 68 F1 provides that the State Transport Undertaking will have to apply for a permit i in pursuance of the approved 913 scheme and ii in the manner specified in Chapter IV
Once that is done the sub section proceeds to say  A Regional Transport Authority shall issue such permit to the State Transport Undertaking and this notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in Chapter IV
 It appears clear to us that the provisions of section 573 have nothing to do with these matters dealt with by section 68 F1
Section 573 lays on the Regional Transport Authority certain duties when it considers an application for a permit
These conditions are 1 to make the application available for inspection at the office of the Authority 2 to publish the application or the substance thereof in the prescribed manner together with a notice of the date before which representations in connection therewith may be submitted and the date and the time and place at which the application and any representa tions received will be considered
Under section 68 F1 as already mentioned the Regional Transport Authority has no option to refuse the grant of the permit provided it has been made in pursuance of the approved scheme and in the manner mentioned in Chap
The duty of the Regional Transport Authority on receipt of the application from the State Transport Undertaking for a permit is therefore to examine the application for itself to see whether it is in pursuance of an approved scheme and secondly whether it has been made in the manner laid down in Chapter IV
This is a duty which the Regional Transport Authority has to perform for itself and there is no question of its asking for assistance from the public or existing permit holders for Transport Services on the route
Neither the public in general nor the permit holder has any part to play in this matter
The provisions of section 573 for making the application made under Chapter IV available for inspection for publishing the application or a substance thereof with a notice of the date by which the representations may be submitted and the date time and place when the representations will be considered are required to enable the Regional Transport Authority to come to a 115 914 correct conclusion as to whether the application should be granted or not
An application not made in the manner laid down in Chapter IV will not be con sidered by the Regional Transport Authority at all
But the mere fact that it has been made in the proper manner will not entitle the applicant to a permit
it is the duty of the Regional Transport Authority to decide on a consideration of all relevant matters whether the application should be allowed
Other operators and even the public have a legal right to make representations to persuade the Authority not to grant the permit on the merits of the case
It is for this reason that there was necessity to make the provisions in sub section 3 of section 57 so that the Regional Transport Authority may receive every assistance in coming to a proper conclusion
When however a scheme prepared and published under section 68 C has been approved and an application has been made in pursuance of the scheme and in the proper manner as specified in Chapter IV nothing more remains to be decided by the Regional Transport Authority
The nature of the matter dealt with under section 68 F1 is thus such as does not and cannot attract any of the provisions of section 573
It may be mentioned here that in Srinivasa Reddy
 Or3
vs The State of Mysore  Ors
1 a question was raised whether section 573 applied or not to an application made under section 68 F1
The Court considered it unnecessary then to go into the matter as on the facts of that case it was found that the application had not been made in the manner provided in Chapter IV and was actually in breach of section 572 of the Act and so no permit could be issued on such an application
The provision in section 572 which was applicable to applica tions under section 68 F is that an application for a 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 dates for the receipt of such application on such dates
In that case the Court held that this provision in section 572 is in reality a manner of making the 1  915 application and consequently it applied to applications made under section 68 F1
The provisions of section 573 cannot however be said to have anything to do with the manner of making the application and the nature of the matter dealt with under section 68 F1 is such that provisions of section 573 are not attracted The next argument is that the Regional Transport Authority functions as a quasi judicial authority when dealing with an application made by the State Transport Undertaking under section 68 F1
It is said that as under section 68 F2 the Regional Transport Authority may refuse to entertain an application for renewal of any other permit or cancel an existing permit or modify in certain matters the terms of an existing permit for the purpose of giving effect to the approved scheme there is a lis between the existing permit holders and the State Transport Undertaking when an application under section 68 F1 is dealt with
It appears to us that when deciding what action to take under section 68 F2 the authority is tied down by the terms and conditions of the approved scheme and his duty is merely to do what is necessary to give effect to the provisions of the scheme
 The refusal to entertain applications for renewal of permits or cancellation of permits or modification of terms of existing permits really flow from the scheme
The duty is therefore merely mechanical and it will be incorrect to say that there is in these matters any lis between the existing operators and the State Transport Undertaking which is to be decided by the Regional Transport Authority
There is no justification therefore for saving that when taking action under section 68 F2 the regional Transport Authority is exercising a quasi judicial function
Apart from this it has to be pointed out that action under section 68 F2 is really independent of the issue of the permits under section 68 F1
Once the scheme has been approved action under section 68 F1 flows from it and at the same time action under section 68 F2 flows from the same scheme
The argument that the Regional Transport Authority should be held to be exercising quasi judicial function in dealing with applications for permits under section 68 F1 916 because of the action it may take under section 68 F2 therefore fails
It was next said that when the Regional Transport Authority issues the permit it can attach to the permit conditions under section 483 of the Act
Section 483 authorises the Regional Transport Authority if it decides to grant a stage carriage permit to attach to the permit any of the conditions specified in the subsection
It has to be noticed that section 68 F1 does not speak of the grant of a permit but provides that the Regional Transport Authority shall issue a permit
In any case if the Regional Transport Authority has to decide what conditions to attach to such a permit it is not possible to say that it is then exercising a quasi judicial function
For in deciding that matter the Regional Transport Authority is to have regard to the interests of the public but there is no question because of that of any lis between the State Transport Undertaking on the one hand and the public on the other
In our opinion the Regional Transport Authority acts wholly in a ministerial capacity while dealing with an application of the State Transport Undertaking under section 68 F1
The fact that on other occasions and in other matters the Regional Transport Authority has quasi judicial functions to perform cannot make its function under section 68 F1 a quasi judicial function
Our conclusion therefore is that the petitioner s contention that no permit can be granted to the State Transport Undertaking until the applications for permit have been duly published and notices have been given to the petitioner of these applications is unsound Consequently the petitioner is not entitled to any relief
The petition is dismissed with costs
Petition dismissed


Summary:
After a scheme Was published by the Mysore Transport Undertaking under section 68 C of the  and approved by the State Government the State Transport Undertaking made applications for permits under section 68 F1 of the Act to the Regional Transport Authority but before the permits were granted the second respondent made an application for a Writ of Certiorari prohibiting the Regional Transport Authority from dealing with the second respondent s application for permit unless and until they were duly published and notice was given to him for making representations
The contention on his behalf was that the publication of the applications with notice of the late for submitting the representations was necessary under section 573 Ch
IV of the Act and that lie was entitled to notice as the Regional Transport Authority acted in a quasijudicial capacity while dealing with applications for permits
Held that when a scheme
prepared and published under section 68 C has been approved and in application has been made in pursuance of the scheme and in the proper manner as specified in Ch
IV nothing more remains to be decided by the Regional 910 Transport Authority and it has no option to refuse the grant of the permit
The nature of the matter dealt unders
68 F1 is such as does not attract the provisions of section 573 which lays down certain duties on the Regional Transport Authority when it considers an application for a permit
The provisions of section 573 have nothing to do with the matters dealt with by section 68 F1
Srinivasa Reddy vs State of Mysore   referred to
When taking action under section 68 F1 the Regional Transport Authority does not exercise any quasi judicial function and acts wholly in a ministerial capacity