IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.5701 of 2009 SOHAN SINGH son of late Dilwara Singh, resident of 32A, Chakraberia Lane, Kolkata-700020 (W.B.). .... ….. Petitioner Versus 1. THE STATE OF BIHAR, 2. State Transport Authority, Bihar, through its Secretary, Vishwasaraiya Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna, 3. The Chairman, State Transport Authority, Bihar, Vishwasaraiya Bhawan, Bailey Road, Patna, 4. State Transport Commissioner, Transport Department, Government of Bihar, Patna, 5. Joint State Transport Commissioner, Transport Department, Government of Bihar, Patna ...... …… Respondents. For the Petitioner: M/s. Randhir Kumar Singh & Sanjay Kumar Pandey, Advocates. For the State:Mr. Siddhartha Prasad, AC to AAG 9 …. 5 29.11.2010 Heard the parties. The petitioner has a permanent inter-State carriage permit, which has been renewed by the State Transport Authority, West Bengal for a period upto 10.02.2013, but the said permit has not been counter-signed by the State Transport Authority, Bihar and hence this writ petition which is pending since 01.05.2009 with a prayer to quash the resolution of the State Transport Authority dated 07.02.2007, contained in Annexure ‘5’, and to direct the Bihar State Transport Authority to counter-sign the permit of the petitioner for the route Silliguri to Thakurganj bearing permit No. P.St.P. 01/2003(I.S.) 2 The crux of the controversy lies in the insistence of the State Transport Authority, Bihar that on inter-State routes, only such buses should ply which have wheel base of 205” or more with sitting capacity of 52 persons. A policy decision to the aforesaid effect issued by the State Transport Authority, Bihar contained in Annexure ‘5’, caused some other transporter to move this Court and it appears that in the case of Smt. Veena Singh versus The State of Bihar bearing CWJC No.2824 of 2009 disposed on 02.04.2009, a direction was given to the State Transport Authority, Bihar, Patna to pass an order in respect of application for counter- signature over the inter-State permit within three weeks and in case no order would be passed, the petitioner of that case would be granted permission to ply the vehicle till the passing of final order on his application. According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the aforesaid case and some other cases relating to inter-State permit covering Bihar and Jharkhand, led to reconsideration of the policy decision and by the further decision dated 6th of August, 2009, contained in Annexure ‘9’, to the rejoinder to the counter-affidavit, the State Transport Authority, Bihar has waived the requirement of placing a bus having wheel base of 3 205” or more in relation to inter-State permit covering Bihar and Jharkhand. In respect of permit covering Bihar and West Bengal, the earlier policy has been retained on a ground that sufficient number of buses (probably referring to buses having wheel base of 205” or more) were available in respect of inter- State routes covering Bihar and West Bengal. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that recently the petitioner had replaced his old bus of 2000 model with a bus of 2006 model having sitting capacity of 42 persons and that was operative since 13.09.2006, and for no good reason, now the right of the petitioner to carry on trade and business has been adversely affected by insistence of the State Transport Authority Bihar, which would require the petitioner to again replace his bus with a larger wheel base of 205” or more. When we put questions relating to validity of the policy of State Transport Authority, Bihar, learned counsel for the State submitted that like in the case of routes covering Bihar and Jharkhand, the authority should specifically consider the petitioner’s application for counter-signature over his permit covering Bihar and West Bengal within a fixed time period, and if the decision goes against the petitioner, he would have the 4 statutory remedy of moving the State Transport Appellate Tribunal. Since the request of the petitioner for counter- signature has not been rejected and no specific order has been issued to the petitioner, we dispose of this writ petition in similar terms, as contained in the order dated 02.04.2009 passed in CWJC No.2824 of 2009 (Smt. Veena Singh versus The State of Bihar and others), which is contained in Annexure ‘7’. We direct the State Transport Authority, Bihar to pass an order in respect of request/representation by the petitioner for counter- signature on his inter-State permit within three weeks from today and if no order is passed, the petitioner should be granted permission to ply his vehicle until final order is passed upon his representation. This writ application is, accordingly, disposed of with the aforesaid observation. Let a copy of this order be given to learned counsel for the State for its communication and compliance. (Shiva Kirti Singh, J.) (Dr. Ravi Ranjan, J.) SC/Sanjay-II 5