IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE S.SIRI JAGAN THURSDAY, THE 18TH JUNE 2009 / 28TH JYAISHTA 1931 WP(C).No. 31646 of 2008(P) ------------------------------------- PETITIONER: ------------------- P.V.KURIACHAN, AGED 45 S/O.VARKEY, PULIKAYIL HOUSE, P.O.CHOTTUPARA,TRISSUR. BY ADV. SRI.P.GOPALAKRISHNA MENON SRI.M.JITHESH MENON RESPONDENTS: -------------------------- 1. THE REGIONAL TRASPORT AUTHORITY TRISSUR. 2. THE SECRETARY REGIONAL TRASPORT AUTHORITY TRISSUR. 3. THE STATE TRANSPORT APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ERNAKULAM. SMT.SMITHA SUKUMAR, GOVERNMENT PLEADER THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON 18/06/2009, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING: WP(C).No. 31646/ 2008 APPENDIX PETITIONER'S EXHIBITS: EXHIBIT P1: TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 5/12/2007 WITH A SET OF TIMINGS. EXHIBIT P2: TRUE COPY OF THE ORDER OF THE 1ST RESPONDENT DATED 2/06/2008. EXHIBIT P3: TRUE MANUSCRIPT COPY OF THE ENQUIRY REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE MOTOR VEHICLES INSPECTOR DATED 7/04/2008. EXHIBIT P4: TRUE COPY OF THE APPEAL MEMORANDUM (WITHOUT EXHIBITS) AS MVAA NO.417/2008 DATED 25/07/2008. EXHIBIT P5: TRUE COPY OF THE JUDGMENT IN MVAA NO.417/2008 DATED 4/10/2008. /TRUE COPY/ P.A. TO JUDGE vgd S.SIRI JAGAN --------------------------------- W.P.(C).NO.31646 of 2008 ---------------------------------- Dated this the 18th day of June, 2009 JUDGMENT The petitioner is an existing stage carriage operator on the route Trissur-Medical College. According to the petitioner since as per the timings alloted to the petitioner his stage carriage has to unnecessarily wait at one terminus, the petitioner applied for extension of 5 trips terminating at Medical College to a place called Mundur. The petitioner contends that the route Medical College-Mundur a very ill-served sector where there are only 3 services at present. The application for such extension was rejected by the first respondent by Ext. P2 Order on three grounds which are: (i) there is no change of circumstances for allowing variation of permit as provided u/s 80(3) and Rule 145(7) of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules. (ii) Most of the timings offered in the proposed route are changed. The intention of the applicant is to revise the existing timings by way of variation and the change of timings will adversely affect the regular passengers and (iii)The variation sought is for a well served route. 2. The petitioner filed an appeal before the State Transport Appellate Tribunal. The tribunal, by Ext.P5 judgment, confirmed the rejection although the third reason was found to be unsustainable. The other two were upheld. The petitioner is challenging Exts.P2 and P5 orders. W.P.C.No.31646 of 2008 2 3. The contention of the petitioner is that the tribunal relied on the report on the Enquiry Officer to come to the conclusion that the variation sought for will upset the existing timings thereby causing inconvenience to the regular passengers. He points out that in Ext.P3, which is the report of the Enquiry Officer, it is specifically stated that as far as Trissur-Athani and Athani-Medical College routes are concerned the time gap between two buses is 1 to 1 ½ minutes for the first one and 1 to 5 minutes for the second one, whereas for the Medical College - Mundur route the time gap between two buses is 45 minutes. Therefore according to the petitioner considering the fact that inconvenience of the existing passengers in the route Trissur-Medical College is negligible the far greater inconvenience of the travelling public between Medical College - Mundur has not been properly appreciated by the Tribunal. 4. No counter affidavit has been filed. However the learned Government Pleader contended that if the variation is granted to the petitioner, it would result in change of timings in the route Trissur-Medical College, which would result in serious inconvenience to the public. W.P.C.No.31646 of 2008 3 5. I have considered the rival contentions in detail. In Ext.P3 report, frequency of services in each portion, and number of stage carriages plying in the routes with trips have been stated thus. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section No.of buses total single trips Available time gap ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Trissur-Athani 160 900 1 to 1 ½ minutes 2. Athani-Medical College 60 80 1 to 5 minutes 3. Medical College-Mundur 3 36 45 minutes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From the same I find that in the Trissur-Athani route the traveling public wait only for 1 to 1 ½ minutes for a bus and in Athani- Medical College route passengers have wait only for 1 to 5 minutes. But in the route Medical College-Mundur the waiting time between two buses is 45 minutes. That being so, if additional trips are granted to the petitioner from Medical College - Mundur the passengers between Thrissur and Medical College would not be practically affected whereas the passengers between Medical College and Mundur would be greatly benefited, especially when the petitioner contends that at Medical College, between trips, the petitioner has lot of waiting time. Such an additional convenience to people travelling between Medical College and Mundur is W.P.C.No.31646 of 2008 4 certainly a relevant factor in considering grant of variation applied for by petitioner. Therefore this aspect ought to have been considered by the Tribunal, while considering the petitioner's appeal, which has not been done. Therefore I am of the opinion that the Tribunal should have a second look on the issue on the basis of the above findings. Accordingly Ext.P3 order is quashed and the matter is remanded to the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Ernakulam for fresh disposal of MVAA No.417/2008, in accordance with the above findings. Fresh orders shall be passed after hearing as expeditiously as possible, at any rate,within two months from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgment. The writ petition is disposed of as above. S.SIRI JAGAN JUDGE vgd