Special Leave Petition Civil No 3486 of 1986
From the Judgment and Order dated 611986 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Misc
Petition No 2577 of 1984
KK Venugopal GL Sanghi MN Krishnamani and Diwan Balak Ram for the Petitioner
Rameshwar Nath for the Respondents
The order of the Court was delivered by VENKATARAMIAH J
The petitioner in the above petition filed under Article 136 of the Constitution has prayed for special leave to appeal against the judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in Miscellaneous Petition No 2577 of 1984 dated 611986
In the petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution before the High Court the petitioner had questioned the validity of an advertisement issued by the Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation hereinafter referred to as the Corporation  inviting tenders from owners of motor vehicles for plying their vehicles on the routes mentioned therein as nominees of the Corporation under the permits issued in favour of the Corporation under the provisions of the hereinafter referred to as the Act 
It is alleged that the petitioner who was an unemployed graduate entered into an agreement with the Corporation to ply his bus as a nominee on the route Gwalior to Chinor via Dabra for a period of five years ending on December 23 1982
The route in question came within scheme No 38 published under section 68 C of the Act
The permit of the Corporation was to expire on 23121982
Therefore the Corporation applied for renewal of its permit but since it took time for finalisation tempo rary permits were issued from time to time
The petitioner was permitted to ply his 372 bus on the monthly basis during that period
Under the agreement the petitioner was liable to pay periodically certain amount to the Corporation as nomination fees or supervision charges and additional taxes
But on 1281984 as stated earlier tenders were invited by the Corporation from private operators for the grant of the privilege of running buses as stage carriages as the nominees of the Corporation
Aggrieved by the said advertisement the peti tioner filed the writ petition referred to above in the High Court
The petitioner contended that even though he had been regularly paying the nomination fees and taxes yet the Corporation in order to earn more money by way of nomination fees had invited tenders from others with a stipulation that tenders of those giving the highest offers by way of nomina tion fees would be accepted and they would be appointed nominees of the Corporation to ply the stage carriages
The petitioner further contended that the decision to invite tenders was arbitrary and illegal
In the Writ Petition he obtained an interim order dated 1191984 under which he was allowed to operate his motor vehicle as a stage carriage on the same terms and conditions as the nominee of the CorpOra tion
The petitioner continued to ply his motor vehicle on the route in question on the basis of the temporary permits issued in the name of the Corporation till 3151985
Since no temporary permit was obtained by the Corporation thereaf ter the petitioner could not ply his motor vehicle in ques tion
In the meanwhile under the orders passed by this Court in Special Leave Petition Nos 941 4667 to 4669 and 7115 7117 of 1985 dated July 22 1985 filed by some others the petitioners therein who were similarly situated were allowed to ply their motor vehicles on some other routes as the nominees of the Corporation for a period of five years
The above order it is alleged was passed on a concession made bY the Corporation
The said order is not supported by reasons
The petitioner relying upon the above order con tended before the High Court in the writ petition filed by him that he should also be permitted to ply his motor vehi cle as a nominee of the Corporation for a further period of five years
The High Court declined to grant the request of the petitioner since by then the scheme No 38 had been approved and had come into effect from June 1 1985 and dismissed the writ petition on January 6 1986
Aggrieved by the order of the High Court the petitioner has filed this petition
It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that since the petitioner had been permitted to operate his motor vehicle as a stage carriage service as a nominee of the Corporation under a programme called Half a Million Job Programme  initiated by the Government of India which was being implemented by the State of Madhya Pradesh he could not be denied the privilege of continuing to operate his motor vehicle on the notified route in question
Reliance is also placed by the learned counsel for the petitioner on the order passed by this Court on July 22 1985 in some of the special leave petitions referred to above permitting the petitioners therein to operate their motor 373 vehicles as the nominees of the Corporation for a further period of five years
After the disposal of the special leave petitions referred to above on July 22 1985 by this Court on October 17 1985 a Constitution Bench of this Court delivered its judgment in Adarsh Travels Bus Service  Anr vs State of U P  Others
 In that case the Constitution Bench held that reading sections 68C 68 D3 and 68 FF of the Act together it was clear that once a scheme was published under section 68 D of the Act in relation to any area or route or portion thereof whether to the exclusion complete or partial of other per sons or otherwise no person other than the State Transport Undertaking could operate a stage carriage on the notified route or in the notified area except as provided in the scheme itself
Admittedly the approved scheme published under section 68 D of the Act has come into operation in respect of the route in question excluding the operation of stage carriages by all others
Section 68 FF of the Act states that where an approved scheme has been published under sub section 3 of section 68 D of the Act in respect of any notified area or notified route the State Transport or the Regional Transport Authority as the case may be shall not grant any permit except in accordance with the provisions of the scheme
It further provides that where no application for a permit has been made by the State Transport Undertaking in respect of any notified area or notified route in pursuance of an approved scheme the State Transport Authority or the Re gional Transport Authority as the case may be may grant temporary permits to any person in respect of such notified area or notified route subject to the condition that such permit shall cease to be effective on the issue of a permit to the State Transport Undertaking in respect of that area or route
It is not however permissible under the Act for the Corporation to obtain a permit under Chapter IV A of the Act and to allow a private operator as its nominee to oper ate under that permit his motor vehicle as a stage carriage on the notified route
It cannot by granting such permission collect any money either as nomination fees or as royalty or supervision charges
Section 59 of the Act which lays down the general conditions attached to all permits provides that save as provided in section 61 of the Act a permit shall not be transferable from one person to another except with the permission of the Transport Authority which granted the permit and shall not without such permission operate to confer on any person to whom a vehicle covered by the permit is transferred any right to use that vehicle in the manner authorised by the permit
Section 61 of the Act only deals with the question of transfer of the permit on the death of the holder of the permit in favour of his successor
Section 42 of the Act provides that no owner of a transport vehicle shall use or permit the use of the vehicle in any public place whether or not such vehicle is actually carrying any passenger or goods save in accordance with the conditions of a permit granted or countersigned by a Regional or State TranSport Authority or the Commission 374 authorising the use of the vehicle in that place in the manner in which the vehicle is being used
Section 42 and section 59 of the Act which are in Chapter IV of the Act apply to permits issued under Chapter IV A of the Act also since in Chapter IV A of the Act we do not find any provi sion which is inconsistent with these two sections
Section 68 B of the Act only provides that Chapter IV A of the Act and the rules and orders made thereunder shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in Chapter IV of the Act or any Other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any such law
Even though the Corporation is established by the State Government under the and the State Government has by an executive order approved the action of the Corporation to allow private operators to operate their vehicles under the permits issued to the Corporation as the nominees of the Corporation the Corporation cannot in law allow its nominees to exploit the permits by running their motor vehicles against payment of some amount to the Corporation since there is no statutory provision authorising the grant of such permission
It would have been different if there had been a law corresponding to the Uttar Pradesh Motor Vehicles Special Provisions Act 27 of 1976 under which the competent authority can authorise such operation subject to the conditions specified therein See Sumer Chand Sharma and Another vs State of UP and Another  The provisions of the Act and in particular sections 42 and 59 clearly debar all holders of permits including the Corporation from indulging in  such unauthorised trafficking in permits
The agreement entered into by the petitioner with the Corporation is clearly contrary to the Act and cannot therefore be enforced
In the circumstances the petitioner is not entitled to the issue of a writ in the nature of mandamus to the Corporation to allow him to operate his motor vehicle as a stage car riage under the permit obtained by the Corporation as its nominee
It follows that the advertisement issued by the Corporation is equally ineffective
The position would not be different even where the permit is issued in favour of the Corporation under Chapter IV of the Act
If the Corpora tion cannot run its vehicle under a permit issued to it it must surrender it so that the Regional Transport Authority may grant the permit to some other deserving applicant or it must transfer it to some body else with the permission of the Regional Transport Authority granted under section 59 of the Act
It cannot however allow the permit to be used by somebody else to run his vehicle either for consideration or without consideration
If it does so it would be exercising the power of the Regional Transport Authority
The Corpora tion cannot thus indirectly clutch at the jurisdiction of the Regional Transport Authority
It is hoped that the Corporation will desist from entering into such agreements with third parties which are wholly illegal and from con tinuing to allow them to run their vehicles as its nominees
The concerned Regional Transport Authority should immediate ly take action to stop such illegal operation of transport 375 vehicles on all routes both notified and non notified routes
It is seen that in one of the documents filed before the High Court it was asserted that the Corporation could allow private operators to operate their vehicles in the name of the Corporation under section 192h of the Road Transport Corporation Act 1950
That provision only authorises the Corporation to purchase or otherwise secure by agreement vehicles owned or possessed by the owner of any other under taking for use thereof by the Corporation for the purposes of its undertaking
It does not however authorise the Corpo ration to permit another person to run his vehicle on his own under a permit issued to the Corporation by paying some amount to the Corporation
Hence no reliance can be placed on the above provision
It was lastly contended on behalf of the petitioner that since the Corporation was not in a position to operate its motor vehicles on the notified routes in accordance with the approved scheme the scheme itself is liable to be quashed
Since the said prayer is not made in the writ petition we cannot consider the said question It is open to the peti tioner if he is so advised to approach the High Court for appropriate relief in this regard
We may however record here that in the counter affidavit filed before this Court it is stated that the Corporation is already operating its own motor vehicles on the route in question
The Special Leave Petition is however dismissed
PSS Petition dismissed


Summary:
Section 68 FF of the prohibits grant of permit in respect of notified area or notified route by State Transport Authority or the Regional Transport Authority except in accordance with the scheme published under subs
3 of section 68 D but provides for grant of tempo rary permits in cases where no application for a permit has been made by the State Transport Undertaking in respect of such notified area or route
Section 59 bars transfer of permits from one person to another except with the permis sion of the concerned Transport Authority
Section 42 pro hibits the owners of transport vehicles from plying them in public places except in accordance with the conditions of the permit
Under an agreement entered into with the respondent Corporation the petitioner was permitted to PlY his bus on a specified route as a nominee of the former for a period of five years ending on December 23 1982
Thereafter the respondent was issued temporary permits and the petitioner was permitted by it to ply his motor vehicle on monthly basis
The route in question had by that been brought within a scheme published under section 68 C of the Act
The respondent through an advertisement dated August 12 1984 invited tenders from private operators for the grant of privilege of running buses as stage carriages as its nomi nees
Aggrieved by the said advertisement the petitioner filed a writ petition in the High Court assailing the deci sion to invite tenders as arbitrary and illegal and for a writ in the nature of mandamns directing the respondent Corporation to allow him to ply his motor vehicle as its nominee for a further period of five years
Under an interim order of the Court he continued to ply his bus as a stage carriage till May 31 1985
Subsequently the High Court dismissed the petition since the scheme 370 published under section 68 C of the Act had been approved and brought into effect from June 1 1985
Dismissing the petition for special leave the Court HELD 11 It is not permissible under the for a State Transport Undertaking to obtain a permit under Chapter IV A and to allow a private operator as its nominee to operate under that permit his motor vehicle as a stage carriage on the notified route
It cannot by granting such permission collect any money either as nomination fees or as royalty or supervision charges
Section 42 and 59 of the Act which equally apply to permits issued under Chapter IV A debar all holders of permits including the State Transport Undertakings from indulging in such unauthorised trafficking in permits
373E 374A D 12 The petitioner was not therefore entitled to the issue of a writ in the nature of mandamus to the respondent Corporation to allow him to operate his  motor vehicle as a stage carriage under the permit obtained by the latter as its nominee
The agreement entered into by the petitioner with the respondent was clearly contrary to the Act and could not be enforced
The advertisement issued by the respondent was equally ineffective
374E 2
If the respondent Corporation cannot run its vehicle under a permit issued to it it must surrender it so that the Regional Transport Authority may grant the permit to some other deserving applicant or it must transfer it to somebody else with the permission of the Regional Transport Authority granted under s59 of the Act
It cannot allow the permit to be used by others either for consideration or without consideration
If it does so it would be exercising the power of the Regional Transport Authority
The Corpora tioncannot thus indirectly clutch at the jurisdiction of the Regional Transport Authority
374F 31 Even though the Corporation was established by the State Government under the and the State Government had by an executive order approved the action of the Corporation to allow private operators to operate their vehicles under the permits issued to the Corporation the Corporation could not in law allow its nominees to exploit the permits in such manner
374B 32 Section 192h of the Road Transport Corporation Act only authorises the Corporation to purchase or otherwise secure by agreement vehicles owned or possessed by the owner of any other undertaking for use thereof for the purpose of its undertaking
It does not authorise the 371 Corporation to permit another person to run his vehicle on his own under a permit issued to the Corporation by paying some amount to the Corporation
375B 33 It would have been different if there had been a law corresponding to the Uttar Pradesh Motor Vehicles Special Provisions Act 27 of 1976 under which the competent au thority can authorise such operation subject to the condi tions specified therein
374C Adarsh Travels Bus Service  Ant vs State of UP  Ors   Sumer Chand Sharma  Anr
vs State of UP  Anr
  referred to