l Appeal Nos
1349 135076
Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and Decree dated the 12th October 1976 of the Madras High Court in Writ Petition Nos
5881 and 5884 of 1975
VP Raman Addl
Sol General of lndia Mrs N G Krishna Iyengar Shri Narain KJ  John DN Mishra for the Appellant
FS Nariman M N Rangachari AR Ramanathan JayaramanMML Srivastava and ATM Sarapath for Respond ent No 1
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by KRISHNA IYER J
The short question involving a point of construction of section 68 F1D has been raised by the Additional Solicitor General in these appeals by Special Leave
The respondent was a stage carriage operator whose two permits were to expire in January and
March 1976
In the usual course and in compliance with section 58
of the for short The Act  he applied for renewal more than 120 days ahead but at the time of the actual date of expiry of the permits a draft scheme under part IV A had been published
This fulfilled the require ments of the proviso to section 68 F1D and entitled the appel lant to renewal for the limited period stated in the said proviso
But the State withdrew the draft scheme for some technical reasons and republished it in July 1975 after the appellant s permit had expired
Applying the prohibition contained in section 68 F1D the Regional Transport Authority for short the RTA  rejected the prayer for renewal
However the High Court set aside that order and directed the grant of renewal on a certain view of the section which the Additional Solicitor General contends goes beyond the limits of the plain words used
The aggrieved State ap peals
While we are satisfied that on the peculiar facts
of this case the respondent can sustain the permits the legal position canvassed by the appellant appears to be correct
At the time the respondent s permit expired a draft scheme had already been published but the approved scheme had not been published
Any permit holder whose permit expires during this spell is eligible for a renewal as specified in the proviso
The fact that the draft scheme was later withdrawn cannot affect the right to a renewal
We therefore hold that the renewal of permit shall remain to the extent contemplated in the proviso to section 68 F1D
Before we consider the legal question we may read section 68 F1D 1D Save as otherwise provided in sub sectiOn 1A or sub section 1G no permit shall be granted or renewed during the period intervening between the date of publication under Section 68 2 of any scheme and the date of publication of the approved or modified scheme in favour of 391 any person for any class or road transport service in relation to an area or route or portion thereof covered by such scheme
Provided that where the period of opera tion of a permit in relation to any area route or portion thereof specified in a scheme published under Section 68 C expires after such publication such permit may be renewed for a limited period but the permit so renewed shall cease to be effective on the publication of the scheme under sub section 3 of Seetion 68 D Three propositions plainly emerge
No permit or renewal except to the extent expressly saved by section 68 FID can be granted by the RTA during the period between the date of publication of any scheme and the date of publication of the approved scheme
2 If a permit expires after the publication of any draft scheme such permit is eligible for renewal for a limited period as set out in the proviso
This special provision cannot be stretched on the ground of possible anomalies or unjust consequences to cover permits expiring even before the publication of the draft scheme
Where the language is plain interpretation cannot take the shape of addition or interstitial legislation
3 A rider to proposition No 2 has to be added
If a permit holder whose permit is about to expire diligently does in the normal course all that he need and all that he can that is to say apply for renewal before 120 days in the manner laid down in section 58 of the Act he sets in motion the legal machinery for the grant of renewal which must ordinarily culminate
in renewal within 120 days
The fact that a scheme is published before the actual grant of renewal will not intercept or extinguish the process of law set in motion by the applica tion for renewal
In such cases the RTA has to act promptly and if the application for renewal is in conformity with the law it has to consider it and grant or reject according to merit
If for reasons beyond the control of the applicant the renewal process gets delayed or pro longed he cannot be penalised
Renewal is a legal process not the final act
Save in this category of cases all other permits which have expired before the draft scheme is published suffer the ban of section 68 F1D
However no permit can ensure beyond the time of the publication of the approved scheme
This saves cases of bona fide applications for renewal of permits not calculated to thwart a scheme and helps the travelling public during the interregnum when the scheme is under scrutiny
The wider proposition accept ed by the High Court that all permits which have expired before the draft scheme is published can be renewal does not appear to be correct and does not have our approval
With this declaration of the law we dismiss the appeals
No order as to costs
PHP Appeals dismissed


Summary:
The respondent was Stage Carriage Operator whose two permits were to expire in January and March 1976
In the usual course and in compliance with section 58 of the  he applied for renewal more than 120 days ahead but at the time of the actual date of expiry of the permits a draft scheme under A had been pub lished
The State withdrew the draft scheme under A for some technical reasons and republished in July 1975 after the appellants  permits had expired
Section 68F1D provides that no permit shall be granted or renewal during the period intervening between the date of publication under section 68C of any scheme and the date of publication of the approved or modified scheme
The proviso to the said sec tion provides that if a permit expires after the publication of the scheme such permit may be renewed for a limited period but the renewed permit shall cease to be effective on the publication of the scheme under section 68D3
Applying the prohibition contained in section 68F1D the Regional Transport Authority rejected the prayer for renewal
The High Court set aside that order directed the grant of the renewal
Dismissing the appeals HELD 1
At the time the respondents  permit expired a draft scheme had already been published but the approved scheme had not been published
Any permit holder whose permit expires during this spell is eligible for a renewal as specified in the proviso
The fact that the draft scheme was later withdrawn canot affect the rights to a renewal
Renewal of the permit however would be to the extent contem plated by section 68F1D
390G H 2
a No permit or renewal except to the extent ex pressly saved by section 68F1D can be granted by the Regional Transport Authority during the period between the date of publication of any scheme and the date of publi cation of the approved scheme
391C b If a permit expires after the publication of any draft scheme such permit is eligible for renewal for a limited period as set out in the proviso
The special provi sion contained in that proviso cannot be stretched on the ground of possible anomalies or unjust consequences to cover permits expiring even before the publication of the draft scheme
Where language is plain the interpretation cannot take the shape of addition or interstitial legislation
391C D 3
If a permit holder whose permit is about to expire diligently does in the normal course all that he needs and all that he can that is to say if he sets in motion the legal machinery for the grant of renewal as laid down in section 58 the fact that a scheme is published before the actual grant of renewal will not intercept or extinguish the process of law set in motion by the application for renewal
If for reasons beyond the control of the applicant the renewal process gets delayed or prolonged he
cannot be penalised
Renewal is a legal process and not the final act
Save in this category of cases all other permits which have expired before the draft scheme is published suffer the ban of section 68F1D
However no permit can ensure beyond the time of the publication of the approved scheme
391D F 390