IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE TWENTY FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE C.V.RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.25707 of 2008 Between: M.Subba Reddy S/o.Chandra Reddy R/o.Srinagar colony, Addanki, Prakasam District ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The State of Andhra Pradesh, State Road Transport Corporation, Musheerabad,Hyderabad, rep.by its Managing Director. 2 The Regional Manager, APSRTC, Nellore. 3 The Depot Manager, APSRTC, Kavali Depot, Kavali, Nellore District .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court may be pleased to pass orders particularly one in the nature of mandamus declaring the inordinate delay on the part of the respondents in paying the differential amount of rent as per the instructions of the 1st respondent in Lr.No.P9/259(60)2001-OPD(P) dated 1.12.2001 as arbitrary, illegal, discriminatory and violative of Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India and consequently direct the respondents to pay the differential amount with interest on the arrears of rental and grant such other relief as may be deemed just and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.KASA JAGANMOHAN REDDY Counsel for the Respondents: MR.C.PRAKASH REDDY The Court made the following: THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU WRIT PETITION No.25707 OF 2008 ORDER: Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents. According to the petitioner, he is the owner of the bus bearing registration No. AP 26 W 2193 and the same has been engaged by the respondent Corporation on hire from 11.03.2004, and is being plied between Kavali and Nellore, as per the agreements entered into from time to time. It is the case of the petitioner that at the time of first agreement entered into between him and the Corporation in the year 2004, the distance between Kavali and Atmakur was assessed to be 53 km. and therefore he was being paid hire charges at the rate of 53 km. per one-way trip. While so, the Corporation has conducted a survey on 15.04.2008, as per which the aforesaid distance was determined as 56.4 km. That apart, the petitioner contends that as the construction of flyover at Venkateswarapuram is under progress, the bus route was changed resulting in increase in the route length. It is the grievance of the petitioner that he submitted several representations to the respondent authorities seeking for payment of differential amount of hire charges as per the survey conducted on 15.04.2008 and in view of the increased route length due to diversion of bus route, but there is no response from the respondents till date. In the facts and circumstances of the case, without expressing any opinion on merits, the respondents are directed to consider the representations purported to have been submitted by the petitioner for payment of differential amount of hire charges in respect of bus bearing registration No. AP 26 W 2193, plying between Kavali and Nellore, and pass appropriate orders as per law, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, and communicate the same to the petitioner. With the above directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. _________________ JUSTICE C.V. RAMULU 25th November, 2008. IBL