SAHGAL,J. - (1.) JUDGEMENT This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution by Messrs. Chiranji Lal Kallu Ram, owners of a passenger bus registered in Delhi State in their name with registration mark DLP 3677, praying for the quashing of an order passed by respondent No. 3 Shri G.B. Lal, Deputy Transport Commissioner (Passenger Tax), U.P., Lucknow, on the 1st of December, 1967, for the suspension of the registration certificate of the vehicle for a period of four months from the date of surrender, the order sought to be quashed being purported to be passed under Section 33 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (hereinafter to be described as the Act), read with Rules 33 and 244(a) of the U.P. Motor Vehicles Rules, 1940 (hereinafter to be described as the Rules).
(2.) THE petitioners case is that on a special permit issued by the Delhi State Transport Authority on the 7th of July, 1967, their staff brought a reserved party from Delhi to Aligarh in that bus. The bus was being taken back to Delhi on the 9th of July, 1967, it is claimed, without any passengers on hire or reward, though this claim is denied in the counter-affidavit, when it was check by respondent No. 3 purporting to act as the Deputy Transport Commissioner (Enforcement), U.P., Lucknow. At the time the impugned order was passed, Shri G.B. Lal, respondent No. 3, however, had been transferred from the post of Deputy Transport Commissioner (Enforcement) to the post of the Deputy Transport Commissioner (Passenger Tax). Respondent No. 3 sent a notice for service on the petitioners on the 22nd of August, 1967, alleging that the date of validity of the special temporary permit relating to the bus having been tampered with by the petitioners, they should show cause why the registration certificate be not suspended under the provisions of Section 33 of the Motor Vehicles Act. A reply was sent to that notice on behalf of the petitioners whereafter another notice was sent on behalf of the respondent No. 3 as Deputy Transport Commissioner (Enforcement) on the 31st of October, 1967, alleging therein that the vehicle was plying without a permit and they were required to show cause for the suspension or the registration certificate of the said bus. In the mean time, however, the petitioners had been prosecuted before the Regional Transport Magistrate. Aligarh, but they were acquitted on the 27th of September, 1967. A reply was sent on the 17th of November 1967, through counsel by the petitioners to respondent No. 3 to the notice dated the 31st of October, 1967. During the period, however, respondent No. 3 was transferred from his earlier post of the Deputy Transport Commissioner (Enforcement) to that of the Deputy Transport Commissioner (Passenger Tax) and he took over charge of the new post on the 28th of November, 1967, after relinquishing charge of the earlier post and it was when he was holding the post of the Deputy, Transport Commissioner (Passenger Tax) that he passed the impugned order on the allegation that the vehicle was carrying live passengers on hire without a valid permit. It is in these circumstances that this writ petition has been filed challenging the validity of the order so passed. A number of grounds has been urged before me against the validity of that order and I propose to deal with them one by one. Before, however, I deal with the points raised before me, it would be better to refer to the relevant provisions of the Act and the Rules.
(3.) SECTION 33 of the Motor Vehicles Act, in so far as it is relevant, provides that if any registering authority or other prescribed authority has reason to believe that any motor vehicle within its jurisdiction is being used for hire or reward without a valid permit for being used as such, the authority may, after giving the owner an opportunity of making any representation he may wish to make (by sending to the owner a notice by registered post acknowledgment due al his address entered in the certificate of registration), for reasons to be recorded in writing, suspend the certificate of registration of the vehicle for a period not exceeding four months.;