PETITIONER:
SARJOO PRASAD SINGH
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
THE STATE OF BIHAR & ORS.
DATE OF JUDGMENT22/09/1976
BENCH:
RAY, A.N. (CJ)
BEG, M. HAMEEDULLAH
SHINGAL, P.N.
CITATION:
1977 AIR 24 1977 SCR (1) 661
1977 SCC (1) 34
ACT
Nationalisation scheme of Bus Routes under s. 68C of the
Motor Vehicles Act, 1939--Form A under Rule 94A of the
Bihar Motor Vehicles Rules read with Schedule II serial No.
4, 5 and 6--Interpretation of--Whether it envisages compul-
sory existence of private operators side by side with the
State operation.
Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, Section 68D--Scope of--Wheth-
er there should be a finding on each and every separate
objection raised.
Monopoly of bus routes--Whether permitting the existing
private operators to operate till the date of expiry of
their permits creates a monopoly.
Practice and procedure--Further plea taken in the affi-
davit-rejoinder to the writ petition shall not be allowed to
be agitated.
HEADNOTE
Fifteen routes including the route Ranchi-Daltonganj via
Kuru was nationalised by a scheme by the respondent State as
per gazette notification dated September 13, 1972. The
scheme concerned inter aria the area and the route between
Ranchi and Daltonganj including Ranchi, Kuru and Chandwa
Daltonganj, being a rural service. The scheme permitted the
existing private operators to continue till the expiry of
their permits. The appellants challenged the scheme by
way of an application under Art. 226 in the Patna High Court
which was dismissed in limine.
Dismissing the appeal by special leave the Court,
HELD: (1 ) Rule 94A speaks of particulars of scheme
proposing modification of an approved scheme prepared by the
Transport Corporation. It is wrong to read serial Nos. 4, 5
and 6 in schedule II in Form, A which mentions the number of
State carriages, scheduled to operate in each route by
private operators and by State Transport Undertaking and the
number of daily trips scheduled in each route by both these
operators, to suggest that even though . the route is natio-
nalised, there must be private operators. The form is
general. There may be on the same route both private opera-
tors and State Transport or there may be only private opera-
tors or there may be only State Transport. The form does
not suggest that even though the route is nationalised,
there must be private operators. [662 F-G,-663 A--B]
(2) Section 68D of the Motor Vehicles Act states that
the State Government may, after considering the objections
and after giving an opportunity to the objector or his
representatives and the representatives of the State Trans-
port Undertaking to be heard in the matter, if they so
desire, approve or modify the scheme. No. finding of fact is
necessary on each and every separate objection.
[663 D--E, G]
Capital Multi Purpose Co-operative Society Bhopal and
others v. State of Madhya Pradesh [1967] 3 SCR 329, fol-
lowed.
(3) No monopoly is conferred on the private operators
who were allowed to continue to operate. Allowing them to
operate means they were allowed to continue to operate in
accordance with the permits. Operation after the expiry
of the current permits would depend on the policy of the
Government whether there would be any renewal and it there
would be any renewal, that should be in accordance with
law. [663 H. 664 A]
(4) Fresh plea by way of an allegation in the affidavit
rejoinder to the writ petition when the State had no oppor-
tunity to deal with such allegation cannot be allowed to be
agitated. [664B]
662
JUDGMENT
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 742 of 1974.
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and Order
dated 15.2.1974 of the Patna High Court in C.W.J.C. No.
215/74.
A.B.N. Sinha, K.K. Sinha, K.N. Deshav, S.K. Sinha and
Ugra Sankar Prasad for the appellant.
Pramod Swarup, for respondent No. 1
L.N. Sinha, Sol. Genl., B. P. Singh and A. K. Srivastava,
for D. Goburdhan, for respondent No. 2.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
RAY C.J.--This appeal by special leave is from the
judgment dated 15 February 1974 of the Patna High Court.
The High Court dismissed in limine the application of the
appellant under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The appellant challenged the scheme flamed under section
68C of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 published in the Bihar
Gazette On 13 September 1972. The Bihar State Road Trans-
port Corporation published a scheme for nationalisation of
fifteen routes including the route Ranchi-Daltonganj via
Kuru. The scheme concerned inter alia the area and the
route between Ranchi and Daltonganj. The area included
Ranchi, Kuru, Chandwa Daltonganj. This is a rural service.
The scheme stated that private operators would be able to
run their buses till the expiry of their current permits and
no private bus would be operated by the private operators
after the expiry of their permits. The scheme further
provided that the Government bus operators would operate
in the area as shown in the Schedule.
Counsel for the appellant contends first that the
number of buses operated by private operators on part of
the route were to be maintained in spite of the scheme of
nationalisation. Reliance was placed on Form A under Rule
94A of the Bihar Motor Vehicles Rules in in support of
the contention. Rule 94A speaks of particulars of scheme
proposing modification of an approved scheme prepared by the
Transport Corporation. In Schedule II at serial Nos. 4, 5
and 6 in Form A are mentioned the number of state car-
riages scheduled to operate in each route (a) by private
operators and (b) by State Transport Undertaking; the
number of daily trips scheduled in each route (a) by
private operators and (b) by State Transport Undertaking;
and the maximum and minimum number of stage carriages
proposed to be operated in each route by the State Trans-
port Undertaking to the exclusion of private operators.
The contention of the appellant was that serial Nos. 4, 5
and 6 indicated that in spite of nationalization of route,
private operators would be .allowed to operate on part of
the route. It was said that in the scheme no details
about private operators had been given. It was also said
that in the scheme the numbers of services run by the pri-
vate operators and by the Corporation were wrongly given.
It was said that 21 services were shown as run
663
by the Corporation and that the Corporation was providing 42
trips. The appellant contended that private operators ran 41
buses and the route needed more buses aggregating 51.
It is wrong to read serial Nos. 4, 5 and 6 in Form A to
suggest that even though the route is nationalised there
must be private operators. The Form is general. There
may be on the same route both private operators and State
Transport, or there may be only private operators or there
may be only State Transport.
In the scheme the existence of private operators is
specifically mentioned and-it is further mentioned that they
would continue to ply till the expiry of their current
permits. We are unable to hold that even though the route
is nationalised there must be private operators. The private
operators under the scheme in the present case were allowed
to continue during the currency of their permits. Whether
they will be allowed to operate after the expiry of their
permits, will depend upon the policy of the Government.
After the expiry of the current permits if the policy will
allow for renewal of permits of the private operators, such
renewal will have to be in accordance with law.
The scheme as modified and approved was published on 14
January 1974. All the details are there.
The second objection of the appellant was that the
Minister did not give any reason in dealing with the objec-
tions of the appellant. Section 68-D of the Motor Vehicles
Act states that the State Government may, after considering
the objections and after giving an opportunity to the objec-
tor or his representatives and the representatives of the
State Transport Undertaking to be heard in the matter, if
they so desire, approve or modify the scheme. The provi-
sions of the section speak about the approval or modifica-
tion of the scheme. The Minister heard the objections for
2 days. The order of the Minister dated 24 September 1973
states that the scheme covering Ranchi-Bero Gumla was modi-
fied and approved as follows:
"The existing services operated by the private operators
shall not be affected and they would continue to operate.
No fresh permit shall be granted to private operators and
the Corporation shall ply only Express services on this
route. The .other schemes covering Ranchi-Kuru-Chandwa-
Daltonganj via Bernbad, (ii) Muzaffarpur Motihari and
(iii) Muzaffarpur-Darbhanga via Benibad are approved."
Approval and modification of the scheme indicates that
the scheme is efficient and adequate. No finding of fact
is necessary on each and every separate objection. See
Capital Multi Purpose Co-operative Society Bhopal and Others
v. State of Madhya Pradesh(1).
The third contention was that on the route Ranchi-Bero
Gumla private operators were allowed to operate and thereby
monopoly was conferred on them.. The contention is wrong.
No monopoly is conferred on the private operators who were
allowed to continue to
(1) [1967] S.C.R. 329.
664
operate. It means they were allowed to continue to operate
in accordance with the permits. Operation, after the expiry
of current permits, would depend on the policy of the Gov-
ernment whether there would be any renewal and if there
would be any renewal, that should be in accordance with law.
The fourth contention was that the hearing concluded on
18 August, 1973 but the Government took into consideration
letter dated 23 August 1973 written by the State Transport
Corporation. This allegation was mentioned in the affida-
vit-rejoinder. The State had no opportunity to deal with
the allegation. This allegation is not made in the writ
petition. The appellant, therefore, cannot be allowed to
agitate on that ground.
All the contentions fail. The appeal is dismissed.
Parties will pay and bear their own costs.
S.R. Appeal dis-
missed.
665