Court No. - 36
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 15879 of 2018 Petitioner :- Tanveer Ahmad Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 4 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Shiv Ram Misra Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Mrs. Sunita Agarwal,J.
Heard Sri Shiv Ram Misra, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri G.K. Malviya, learned counsel for respondent no.5 and learned Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.
The present writ petition is directed against the order dated 13th June, 2018 passed by the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, U.P. Lucknow in Revision No. 4 of 2018 (Tanveer Ahmad vs. State Transport Authority, U.P. Lucknow and Others) and also the order dated 20th April, 2018 passed by the State Transport Authority, U.P. Lucknow.
Petitioner and respondent no.5 before this Court are private operators (permit holders), who ply the State Carriage (passenger bus) on the interstate routes, namely, Teekamgarh (Madhya Pradesh) to Niwari (Uttar Pradesh), which passes through Jatara-Kanera-Mauranipur route. The time table for plying their vehicles has been fixed by the competent authority. However, other two operators had objected and sought alteration in time table of stage carriage being plied by permit holder namely respondent no.5, by moving an application before the State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior. On the objection being raised, the State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior had referred the matter to the State Transport Authority, U.P. Lucknow seeking recommendation, after verification of the records vide letter dated 26th February, 2018.
At this stage, it appears that the petitioner (permit holder) has filed his objection on 19th April, 2018 before the State Transport Authority, U.P. Lucknow. The objections raised by the petitioner and other two operators seeking alteration in time table of stage carriage plied by respondent no.5 have been decided by means of the order dated 20th April, 2018 by the State Transport Authority, U.P. Lucknow.
Feeling aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner has preferred a revision, being Revision No. 04 of 2018 (Sri Tanveer Ahmad vs. S.T.A. U.P. & Others), before the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, U.P. Lucknow. The Appellate Tribunal while rejecting the revision filed by the petitioner, vide order dated 13th June, 2018, has recorded a categorical finding that pursuant to the agreement arrived at between two States, i.e. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, dated 21st November, 2006, the competent authority to take a final decision, with regard to any dispute regarding time table assigned to the permit holders, is the Secretary, State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior.
This finding of fact recorded in the order impugned is neither under challenge in the present writ petition nor any objection has been raised by the learned counsel for the respondent no.5. Learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned counsel for respondent no.5, thus, agree to the situation that the competent authority to take a final decision, under the agreement arrived at between the two States, with regard to the time table of plying of stage carriage by private operators, is the Secretary, State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior. The State Transport Authority, U.P. Lucknow can only make its recommendation.
Learned counsel for the petitioner, however, raises objection to the observations made by the Appellate Tribunal in the order dated 13th June, 2018 on the merits of the objections made by the petitioner with regard to the time table allotted to the vehicle plied by respondent no.5.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that since the matter can be adjudicated on merits only by the Secretary, State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior, it was not open for the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, U.P. Lucknow to make any observations on the merits of the matter. This submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner is not disputed by the learned counsel for respondent no.5.
In view of the above, since the competent authority to take any final decision in the aforesaid matter is the Secretary, State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior, the order passed by the Appellate Tribunal at Lucknow dated 13th June, 2018 and the order passed by the State Transport Authority at Lucknow dated 20th April, 2018 cannot be legally sustained to the extent of the conclusion drawn on the merits of the claim of the petitioner and are hereby set aside to that extent. The petitioner would be at liberty to contest the matter before the Secretary, State Transport Authority, M.P. Gwalior, which is the competent authority, as per the agreement arrived at between two States i.e. U.P. and M.P. with regard to the time table allotted to respondent no.5 considering the recommendation for alteration made by respondent no.3 vide order dated 20th April, 2018.
It is made clear that any observation made by the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, U.P. Lucknow in the order dated 13th June, 2018 on the merits of the objection of the petitioner shall not prejudice the cause of the petitioner rather an independent consideration is to be made by the competent authority.
The present writ petition is allowed, subject to the observations made herein above.
Order Date :- 26.7.2018 Pratima