- (1.) Heard learned Counsel for the petitioner.
(2.) The petitioner is a lessee for collection of toll at Pipra Ghat, district Balrampur over Rapti River on a particular bridge. The said collection of toll is under a lease dated 1.4.2015, the period whereof is three years. According to the learned Counsel for the petitioner, since the lease subsists and has not been cancelled in accordance with the Northern Indian Ferries Act, 1878, the directions of the respondent to the petitioner not to collect toll on the bridge forthwith is without authority in law. According to the petitioner, the same is in violation of the principles of natural justice and clearly amounts to a breach of the terms and conditions of the lease that has been entered into in terms of Sections 8 and 10 of the 1878 Act. Thus there is a statutory violation as well as the violation of the terms of lease, that too even in an arbitrary manner and in violation of the principles of natural justice, therefore the impugned notification dated 2.12.2016 as well as the consequential order issued to the petitioner on 31.1.2017 should be quashed. The petitioner should be allowed to continue to collect toll for the balance of the period as envisaged under the deed itself.
(3.) Learned Standing Counsel on the other hand submits that the petitioner cannot claim this continuance as a matter of right, inasmuch as the State Government has taken a policy decision and by virtue of the said decision, the collection of toll in relation to certain bridges and ferries has been withdrawn by the State Government under the impugned Government Order dated 2.12.2016. This being in public interest cannot therefore be questioned nor any claim can be made by the petitioner to continue the said lease in his favour. Learned Standing Counsel has invited the attention of the Court to Section 15 of the 1878 Act to contend that after a lease has been let out in terms of Section 8, and if after such declaration any impediment is caused on account of any such contingency as has happened in the present case for collection of toll, then the party concerned shall be entitled to the adjustment of the rents that were payable under the lease agreement.;