- (1.) The petitioner is aggrieved by the order of the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Punjab, by which it has varied the order of the State Transport Commissioner. A few facts may be noticed.
(2.) On 1/11/1987, the State Transport Commissioner issued a notice inviting applications for the grant of two permits with return trips on the Thein Dam-Amritsar route. The petitioner as well as respondent No. 2 applied for the grant of permits along with various other applicants. On 17/09/1988, the State Transport Commissioner considered the claims of various applicants. It granted one return trip to the petitioner. Note was granted to respondent No. 2. The respondent along with various other aggrieved parties filed an appeal before the Tribunal. Vide order dated 27/08/1990, the Tribunal has varied the order of the State Transport Commissioner and ordered that the petitioner shall be granted half return trip instead of one return trip and half return trip shall be granted to respondent No. 2. Aggrieved by this order, the petitioner has approached this Court through the present writ petition. The order of the Tribunal has been challenged primarily on the ground that if suffers from an error apparent on the record in as much as the finding that the respondent had Bus No. PAB 1777, is virtually based on non-existent assumption. It has also been averred that in accordance with the provisions of S. 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, the petitioner could have served the interests of the public better than the respondent.
(3.) In the written statement filed on behalf of respondent No. 2, the claim of the petitioner has been controverted. It has been inter alia averred that the respondent had been granted a temporary permit on 22/01/1987 when it had purchased a Bus. However, on account of the permit having expired, the Bus in question was transferred temporarily. Along with the written statement, an affidavit of Mr. Sukhdev Singh, Director of M/s. New Janta Bus Service Pvt. Ltd., Batala, has been produced, as Annexure R-1. On these premise,it has been prayed that there is no merit in this petition and may be dismissed with costs.;