U.P. STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION Vs. KASHMIRI LAL BATRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) INTRODUCTION : The MOTOR VEHICLES ACT OF 1939 [1939 MV Act] was a legislation dealing with a host of matters of everyday concern related to use of motor vehicles till its repeal in 1988. It dealt with matters concerning various kinds of motor vehicles, its registration, license to drive and operate, insurance, road rules, traffic control, control of public transport, the transport authorities, the necessity to obtain permits, inter-State reciprocal transport agreements, State Road Transport Corporations SRTCs, compensation in case of road accidents caused by errant vehicles by a duly constituted tribunal and so on. After almost 60 (sixty) years of its existence, the Parliament introduced the 1988 MV Act w.e.f. 1/7/1988. The 1988 MV Act is more or less like its precursor but with certain additional provisions to tackle modern day challenges. Spread over 15 chapters, the 1988 MV Act is considered to be a complete code in itself for anything and everything related to motor vehicles. One notable feature of the 1988 MV Act is that it brought about a sea change in the policy regarding grant of permits for plying stage carriages on intra-Region, inter-Region and inter-State routes. Challenge to the liberalized policy of grant of permits came up for consideration before a 3-Judge Bench of this Court in Mithilesh Garg v. Union of India, (1992) 1 SCC 168. This Court held that the policy neither infringed Article 14 nor Article 19 rights of existing operators.

(2.) In these appeals arising out of judgment(s) and order(s) of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh [High Court] and the sole writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking enforcement of rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) thereof, we too are concerned with grant of permits but on certain inter-State routes which overlap portions of certain intra-State notified routes. Thus, Chapter V of the 1988 MV Act titled CONTROL OF TRANSPORT VEHICLES and Chapter VI thereof titled SPECIAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO STATE TRANSPORT UNDERTAKINGS and V form the focal point of our consideration.

(3.) Delay in presenting SLP (C) Diary No. 29083 of 2018 is condoned. Leave granted.