T B IBRAHIM PROPRIETOR BUS STAND TANJORE Vs. REGIONAL TRANSPORT AUTHORITY TANJORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.)

(2.) The appellant is the lessee of a site to the town of Tanjore to the State of Madras upon which he has a bus-stand. The bus-stand originally belonged to the Tanjore Municipality and the appellant merely held a licence from that authority. Later on, the title of the Municipality to the site was questioned by a third party and in a civil litigation which ensued the title of the Municipality was negatived. There upon the appellant obtained the lease-hold right of the site from the true owner and constructed a bus-stand conforming to the design approved by the Municipality. Besides sheds for passengers and vehicles it provided other amenities. It was situated near the Railway Station and most of the buses leaving Tanjore for out-Station journeys used this bus-stand both as the starting port and the terminus.

(3.) On February 21, 1950, however the Regional Transport Authority, Tanjore, which is the respondent in the present appeal, declared the bus-stand as unsuitable with effect from April 1, 1950, and altered the starting and the terminal points from that date. This order resulted in the closing of the appellant's bus stand. This decision which was given by means of a resolution was confirmed subsequently by another resolution passed on March 31, 1950. The appellant challenged the validity of these resolutions by a petition under Art. 226 before the Madras High Court on the ground that they were passed without jurisdiction and were contrary to the principles of natural justice as they were passed without notice to the appellant and without giving him an opportunity to defend his right. The resolutions purported to have been passed under S. 76 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 which runs thus :