- (1.) THE petitioner in this WP under art.226 dated March 29, 2012 is seeking the following principal reliefs: a).. A writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondent authorities, associates, servants and sub-ordinates not to give any effect or further effect to the impugned decision taken by the State Transport Authority, West Bengal in its meeting held on 20th day of January, 2012 in Agenda Item No.19 as contained in Annexure "P/4" hereto. b).. A writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondent authorities, associates, servants and sub-ordinates top forthwith allow the extension of the route from Barasat to Calcutta (Hastings) in respect of your petitioner's permit, being P.St.P.No.623/01(I/R) thereby endorsing the same in the said permit in question." THE decision of the STA dated January 20, 2012 is at p.31, and it is quoted below: "THE petitioner, Shri Sk Nurul Amin is present and produces his identity. Ld. Advocate, Shri S. Mukherjee is also present submitting Vakalatnama. THE case arises when the petitioner prayed for extension of his allotted route Dhulian to Barasat to Dhulian to Kolkata. THE permit was issued in 2001 but the petitioner applied for extension as above on 8.7.11. STA, West Bengal in its meeting dated 28.9.2000 granted his permit from Dhulian to Barasat curtailing the portion from Barasat to Kolkata. THE above curtailment was challenged in Hon'ble High Court by the petitioner and the Hon'ble High Court (Single & Division Bench) quashed the decision of STA due to the fact that the KMA is the restricted zone, the prayer for extension of route cannot be accepted. THE same point has also been agreed upon in the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. Hence the prayer for extension stands rejected."
(2.) THE petitioner applied to the STA for grant of a permanent stage carriage permit for the route Dhulian Bazar Kolkata (via Raghunathganj and Barasat). Alleging inaction he moved a WP under art.226 before this Court that directed disposal of the application. THE STA decided to grant permit for the route Dhulian Bazar Barasat. It issued an offer letter dated December 18, 2000. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner moved a fresh WP under art.226 before this Court. The WP was disposed of by a decision dated March 5, 2001 directing the STA to decide the application for grant of permit afresh. Questioning the order the petitioner filed a mandamus appeal before the Division Bench that allowed the appeal by a decision dated April 27, 2001 holding that permit ought to have been granted without curtailing the route, an impermissible act. Feeling aggrieved by the decision of the Division Bench dated April 27, 2001, the State filed an appeal by special leave before the Supreme Court. By a decision dated July 5, 2010 State of West Bengal & Ors. v. S.K. Nurul Amin, (2010) 11 SCC 182 the Supreme Court allowed the appeal, set aside the orders of the Single Bench and Division Bench of this Court, restored the order of the STA and upheld the curtailment of the route.
(3.) THE Supreme Court held that the proviso to sub-s.(1) of s.72 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 did not prohibit curtailment, for a valid reason, of a portion of the route for which the permit was sought; that, in fact, sub-s.(1) of s.72 of the Act specifically authorised grant of a permit with modifications, if necessary; and that curtailment of the route was a modification as contemplated in sub-s.(1) of s.72 of the Act. After all this the petitioner submitted an application dated July 8, 2011 requesting the STA for extension of the Dhulian Bazar Barasat route from Barasat to Hastings in Kolkata. Then alleging inaction on the part of the STA he moved a WP No.14214(W) of 2011 before this Court under art.226. By an order dated September 20, 2011 the WP was disposed of. The order of this Court dated September 20, 2011 is at p.30 and it is quoted below: "This writ petition is being disposed of at the stage only without calling for any affidavit directing the respondent nos. 2 and 3 to take a decision on the petitioner's application/representation dated 8th July, 2011 a copy of which has been made Annexure "P.2" to the writ petition. The decision in this regard shall be taken within a period of eight weeks from the date of communication of this order upon giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and the decision in turn shall be communicated to the petitioner within a further period of two weeks. The writ petition stands disposed of on the above terms. There shall be no order as to costs. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the learned advocates for the parties on priority basis." ;