L.RATH, J. - (1.) The issues whether an application for renewal of the contract carriage permit can be refused on the consideration of past conduct of the permit holder and whether before such order of refusal is passed, the applicant is entitled to a hearing are questions which fail for decision in this application made under Arts.226 and 227 of the Constitution.
(2.) The facts adumbrated are that the petitioner, before expiry of his All Orissa Contract Carriage Permit, had applied for renewal of the permit. No representations had been filed against such renewal application, but the Chairman, State Transport Authority, Orissa, by his order dt. 27-5-1985 (Annexure-1) rejected the application on basis of the V.C.R. (Vehicle check report) statements showing that the vehicle had been found on three occasions being utilised as stage carriage and on few occasions it had been found plying with passengers in excess as of the prescribed seating capacity. An appeal was carried by the petitioner before the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Orissa which was also rejected holding that on several previous occasions the petitioner's vehicle had been found to be plying in contravention of the permit conditions by either being used as a stage carriage vehicle or overloading the same, which offences he had compounded by paying penalty and hence the application had been rightly rejected. Besides the Tribunal also held there was no necessity of observance of the principles of natural justice since in view of the established facts, there was no explanation which could have been submitted by the petitioner against the allegations.
(3.) So far as the first contention is concerned, it would be useful to refer to some of the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act (briefly, the Act) and the Orissa Rules framed thereunder. An application for permit to use a vehicle as a contract carriage is made under S.49 of the Act. The Regional Transport Authority grants the permit under S.51 of the Act and in so granting, may burden the permit with any one or more of the conditions set out in the Section. S.57(1) states that an application for contract carriage permit may be made at any time and S.58(2) directs that an application for renewal of a permit has to be made not less than sixty days before the expiry of the permit and has to be disposed of as if it were an application of a permit. The renewal applications are entitled preference over new applications. S.57(6) stipulates that :- "57(6) When any representation has been made by the persons or authorities referred to in S.50 to the effect that the number of contract carriages for which permits have already been granted in any region or any area within a region is sufficient for or in excess of the needs of the region or of such area, whether such representation is made in connection with a particular application for the grant of a contract carriage permit or otherwise, the Regional Transport Authority may take any such steps as it considers appropriate for the hearing of the representation in the presence of any persons likely to be affected thereby." S.50 of the Act runs as follows :- "50. Procedure of Regional Transport Authority in considering application for contract carriage permit :- A Regional Transport Authority shall, (in considering an application for) a contract carriage permit, have regard to the extent to which additional contract carriages may be necessary or desirable in the public interest; and shall also take into consideration any representations which may then be made or which may previously have been made by persons already holding contract carriage permits in the region or by any local authority or police authority in the region to the effect that the number of contract carriages for which permits have already been granted is sufficient for or in excess of the needs of the region or any area within the region." A bare perusal of sections shows that considerations available to weigh with the Regional Transport Authority in dealing with an application for contract carriage permit is only regarding the extent to which additional contract carriage is necessary or desirable in public interest and in so considering he is to take into consideration any representation which might have been made by the persons who are already holding contract carriage permits in the region or similar representations by any local authority or police authority. However, the consideration by the Regional Transport Authority as well as the representations objecting to the application are to be confined only to the adequacy of the number of the contract carriages running in the region and the consideration of public interest to weigh with the Regional Transport Authority is also in relation to the number of the vehicles plying in the region as satisfying the public interest. Thus the only factor which is to be considered in granting a contract carriage permit is the number of the contract carriage vehicles plying in the region. The public interest is also not public interest in general but is the decision as to whether any additional contract carriage is necessary in public interest. All other considerations are extraneous and outside the ambit of S.50. The factors to weigh in grant of a contract carriage permit are different than the factors to be taken into consideration under S.47 for grant of a stage carriage permit where interest of the public generally is also a relevant consideration unlike that of contract carriages. Contract carriage is defined in S.2(3) to mean only vehicle which carries a passenger or passengers for hire or reward under a contract expressed or implied for the use of the vehicle as a whole either on a time basis whether or not with reference to any route or distance or from one point to another with a further prohibition that it shall not stop to pick up or set down, along with the line of route, passengers not included in the contract. The contract carriage thus, as the very name signifies, is a vehicle taken on contract for a specific purpose. It is primarily a matter of contract between the two parties. Such a contract between the two parties can be controlled by a statutory authority only to the extent as specified in the statute which, so far as grant of permit is concerned, extends under S.50 only to consider the interest of the public as to whether the existing number of permits justify grant of any other permit. No other limitations can be read into the independent contract between the two parties. In this view of the matter, the past conduct of the applicant is not a relevant factor to be considered for renewal of a permit. Besides such conduct of the petitioner had been compounded by payment of penalty as assessed. It cannot again form the basis for refusal of the renewal of permit to him.;