NARSINGARH MINI BUS OWNERS SYNDICATE Vs. STATE OF TRIPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner No. 1 which is an unregistered Association, namely, Narsingarh Mini Bus Owner's Syndicate represented by its General Secretary Shri Bimal Kanti Debnath and petitioner No.2 Shri Dinesh Sarkar who is one of the members of the petitioner No. 1 have filed this application under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India for quashing the notification dated 5.9.96 issued by the Respondent No. 2 viz. the State Transport Authority (for short "S.T.A") and also the notification dated 22.11.96 issued by the respondent No. 3 viz. the Deputy Transport Commissioner contained in Annexure-12.

(2.) I have heard Mr. A.K. Bhowmik, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners and Mr. A Chakraborty, the learned Advocate General assisted by Mr. P.K. Paul, Advocate appearing on behalf of the respondents.

(3.) To appreciate the contentions canvassed at the bar by learned counsel for the parties the facts relevant for the purpose may be stated as under :- The case of the petitioners is that the petitioner No. 1 and its other members were granted stage carriage permits for plying their respective buses on route No. 4 i.e. from Agartala motor stand to Narsingarh and back. Some of the permits were issued for a period of 5 years and some other permits were issued for 3/4 months at a time and those were used to be renewed from time to time. The Secretary of the petitioner No. 1 who is the owner of a bus bearing No. TR-01-1239 was granted a permit for plying his bus along aforesaid route No. 4 the validity of which expired on 14.12.96. The grievance of the Secretary is that when he approached the respondent No.2 for renewal of the permit of his bus the later varied the conditions of the permit by reducing the distance by about 2 k.m as the renewal was granted for plying the bus along the aforesaid route from Narsingarh to Radhanagar only. The petitioner No. 2 was granted a permit for his bus for plying along that route No. 4 for a period of 5 years which is to expire on 31.10.98. It is stated that as per the permit the vehicle was allowed to ply from Agartala motor stand to Narsingarh.