- (1.) THE petitioners, five in number, carry on transportation business byroad, in tracks and lorries, and have; their respective offices and godowns at premises No. 1/a, Burman Street, in the town of Calcutta. The portion of Burman Street between Upper Chitpur Road and Bullav Das Street, within which the petitioners' offices and go-downs are located, is said to be 337 ft. long. About its width there is difference in statements made in the petition and in the affidavit-in-opposition. The petitioners say that the aforesaid portion of the street is 19 ft. wide. Sri Upananda Mukherjee, who, at the material time, was the Commissioner of Police, says in his affidavit-in-opposition that the Street is about 17 ft. wide, excluding the drains on either side. The petitioners used to park their lorries on Burman Street and load and unload their goods from and to their godowns. They say that they have been carrying on this business since about 1959, without hindrance to other vehicular traffic on the road.
(2.) BY a notification, dated November 22, 1960, which was published in the Calcutta Gazette of December 1, 1960, the respondent Commissioner of Police, ordered that goods vehicles-commonly called lorries, heavy transport vehicles, chassis of the above-mentioned types of motor vehicles, tractors and trailers-shall not be driven on, along, and through Burman Street at all hours and on all days. The above notification was made in exercise of the powers vested in the Commissioner of Police under section 74 of the Motor Vehicles Act (Act IV of 1939) read with Government of West Bengal Home (Transport) Department Order No. 2383 W. T. , dated April 9, 1957.
(3.) THE petitioners allege, in the first place, that the aforesaid order of the Commissioner of Police is arbitrary and discriminatory, in that the parking or traffic of lorries in Burman Street never caused accident, inconvenience or obstruction to traffic and while such parking or traffic is allowed in similar or narrower streets in the same locality, Burman Street was arbitrarily singled out for such prohibition. They further contend that section 74 of the Motor Vehicles Act puts an unreasonable restriction on the fundamental right of the petitioners to carry on trade and business, as guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution, and as such is ultra vires the Constitution. They also allege that the notification has caused a total prohibition and extinction of the petitioners' business, which is their property, and that they have been deprived of a very vaulable property without compensation.;