mgn CONTINUATION SHEET No. IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE WRIT PETITION NO.6416 OF 2009 Kolhapur Zilla Bus Wahatuk Sangathana & Ors. ...Petitioners Versus The State of Maharashtra & Ors............Respondents ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Office Notes, Office : Memoranda of Coram, : Court's or Judge's orders appearances,Court 's : orders or directions & : Registrar s orders . : Mr.S.R. Barlinga with Mr. A.J. Kandarkar,for the Petitioners. Mr. G.S. Hegde i/b. G.S. Hegde & Associates for respondent No.4. Mr. S.R. Nargolkar, A.G.P. For Respondent Nos. 1 to 3, 5 and 6. CORAM : F.I.REBELLO AND J.H.BHATIA,JJ. DATED : 23 rd November, 2009. P.C.: By the present petition the petitioners are challenging the communication dated 27 th October, 2008 issued by the Desk Officer, Home Department, Maharashtra Government, whereby all the Police Superintendents and other Officers as set out therein have been asked to enforce the order banning of private passenger vehicles from parking or stopping in a radius of 200 mtrs. Of State Transport Bus Standof Parel at Mumbai, Mumbai Central, Borivali, Kurla and Pune. According to the learned Counsel it is under only Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 that such a direction can be issued and for reasons set out therein. The present direction not being under Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act or traceable to it is without jurisdiction and consequently the Circular of 27 th October, 2008 is liable to be quashed and set aside. 2. The petitioners seek to espouse the cause of both the bus owners and booking agents and some of them are acting in dual capacity. In so far as buses are concerned they all have contract carrier permit to which are amended the following conditions:- The State Transport Authority decided to attach additional conditions to the permit prohibiting parking of all Public Service Vehicles other than State Transport undertaking vehicles within a radius of 200 meters from the place where the State Transport undertaking vehicles operate for the purpose of picking up and setting down the passengers (Resolution No.25/96) . Thus it is clear that any holder of a contract carriage permit who parks vehicles within 200 meters and/or for the purpose of picking up and setting down the passengers within 200 meters that would be in breach of the conditions of the permit and liable for action including cancellation of permit. In that context the direction issued on 27 th October, 2008 asking the Officers as set out therein to take action cannot be faulted. This has nothing to do with Section 115 of the Motor Vehicles Act. It is always open to a Licensing Authority to impose conditions while granting a permit. If any party is aggrieved by that condition the remedy is to prefer an appeal. As long as the permit condition subsists the holder of the permit is bound to comply with the said condition. The fact that the holder of such a permit may have an office within 200 meters will not give him a right to park the vehicles within that 200 meters or for that matter to pick up and/or alight passengers within the 200 meters. We therefore, find no fault with the action of the respondents in issuing the circular dated 27 th October, 2008. 3. The petitioners also made a grievance in the petition that the respondents are seeking to prevent them from running their booking office within the radius of 200 meters. Running of an office as a booking agent has nothing to do with the conditions of the license which we have referred to earlier and to that extent the respondents cannot prevent a person from opening or running a booking agent office as long as there is a license and the party concerned confines to the terms and conditions of that license. We have examined the English translation of the Circular dated 27 th October, 2008. Though there is a reference that there are booking offices of the private transport companies within 200 meters at Parel Bus Stand, the Circular does not state that these booking offices should be stopped. All that the Circular states is that the vehicles cannot be stopped in the area of the radius of 200 meters of the bus stands as earlier set out. 4. With the above clarification, in our opinion, there is otherwise no merit in this petition which is accordingly disposed off. (J.H.BHATIA, J.) (F.I. REBELLO, J.)