C.P. Sikh Regular Motor Service Etc. v. the State of Maharashtra & Others.

MATHEW, J. In these Civil Appeals and Petitions for Special Leave: to appeal, the question for consider!ltion are practically the same. They arc, therefore, disposed of by this common judgment The appellants filed petitions before the High Court cl. 'Bombay (at Nagpur and Bombay) challenging the validity of a scheme framed. under s. 68C of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (hereinafter referred t~ as 'the Act'). The High Court dismissed the petitions and these appeals and petitions for special leave to appeal are directed against. H thoso or,ders. Secticn 68C under which the scheme was framed occurs in Chap­ . ~ IVA of the Act. That chapter was added by Act 100 of 19S6r which camr into effect from February 16, 1957. The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter called 'I.he Corpora· tion') is a corporation established for the whde of the State of Maha· .rashtra under s. 3 of the Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950, and .it is a 'state transport undertaking' within the meaning of s. 68A(b) of the Act. By the scheme, the Corporaticln proposes to operate stage carriage and contract carriage services in the entire State of Maharashtra and on all routes and portions thereof falling within the said area to the .complete exclusion of all other persons subject to the exceptitils men­ tioned in the scheme. The scheme, as approved, was published in the ·Gazette dated November 29, 1973 and was to come into force with effect from January 1, 1974. It was the validity of this scheme that the appellants challenged before the High CcrJrt by their petitions. In these appeals and petitions for special leave to appeal, we are .conc~rned only with two questions, namely, whether the area in rela­ tion to which the scheme has been framed should have been specified by a notification in the official Gazette by the State Government under s. 2 ( 1) of the Act; and whether the scheme was invalid fct the reason 1hat it did not specify the minimum and maximum number .of vehicles to be put on a route as also the minimum and maximum trips on each Toute. It was submitted for the appellants that no valid scheme under s. 68C cc.uid be framed without specifying the area in relation to which the scheme has been framed by a notification by the State Gov­ ernment in the official gazette. This submission is founded on s. 2 (1 ) of the Act which was inserted in the Act by Act 56 of 1969 : "2. In this A ct, unless there iS anything repupant in the ~ubject or context,.- (1} 'area• in relation to any provision of this Act, means such area as the State Gtt1ernment may, having re­ gard to the requirements of that provision, specify by notification in the Official Gazette". Section 68C did not require that the area in relation lo which the scheme has been framed should have been specified by notification in the official gazette by the State Government before the inscrticn of s.2(1) by the Amendment Act 56 of 1969. Therefore, the question for considerati.on is whether, after its insertion in the Act, it was neces· sary for the State Government to have specified the area by notifica­ tion in the· official gazette in ceder that the Corporation may frame a scheme in relation to that area. The appellants contended that wherever the word 'area' occurs in any of the provisions of the Act, the meaning to be given to the 1vord is the one given in s, 2 (1) unless there is something repugnant in the CC'l'l!ext or r,ubject matter and, as there is nothing in the context of or subject matter in s. 68C, which, by necessary implication, excludes c. P. SIKH MOTOR SERVICE v. MAHARASHTRA (Mathew, ].) 13 A -the meaning given in the definition clause to the word 'area' occurring: in the section, the meaning must be assigned to the word. On the other hand, the learned Attorney General, appearing fer the: Corporation, submitted that the definition clause does nett: require the State Government to specify the area by a notification in the gazette . merely because. the word 'area' occurs in a section of the Act. He B submitted that it is only if the State Government is of cpinion that the: provisions of a section so require it, that they need specify the area by a notification in the gazette. In other words, the argument was that in order that the definition clause may, come into play, it is necessary that the State Government should from an opinion, having regard to the requirement of the particular section in which the word 'area' occurs, that it is necessary to specify the area by a notification in the· C gazette. We are not quite sure whether the language of the definition clause· is susceptible of the construction contended for by the learned Attorney General. We are inclined tc1 think that the discretion that is vested in the State Government is only with respect to the specification of the extent of the area in the notification having regard to the requirement of the section in which the word 'area' occurs. That discretion has nothing to dc1 with the necessity or otherwise of a notification specify- ing the area. In other words, the decision of the State ·Government is confined to the specification of the extent of the area, having regard·. to the requirement of the section where the word 'area' occurs and not to the necessity or otherwise of the notification in the ga~tte speci!y·· ing the area. · .Be that as it may, we do not think it necessary to resolve this ques-· tion in this case. as, in our. view, the word 'area' occuring in s. 6RC does not, in the context, require specification by a notification in the· gazette by the State Government. To put it differently, we do not think that in the context of s. 68C the word 'area' means an area speci­ fied by the State Government in a nc~ification in the gazette in accord· ance with the substantive part of the definition clause. The context in: which the word occurs makes the application of the substantive part of the definition repugnant. Section 3 of the Road Transport Corporaticn Act,· 1950, provides that the State Government may, by a notification in the official ga1.ette, establish a Road Transport Corporation for the whc~e or any part of the State. Section 18 of that Act provides that it shall be the general duty of a Corporation so to exercise its powers as prcgressively lo. provide an efficient, adequate, economical and properly coordinated system of road transport services. in the State er part of the State for which it is established and in any extended area and s. 19 specifies the powers of the Corporation. Sub-section· (2)(c) of that section empowers the Corporation to prepare schemes for the acquisition of, and to acquire the whole or any part of any undertaking of any other person to the extent to which the activities thereof oonsist of the ope­ ration of road transport services in that State or in any extended area ... Section 68C of the Act says : "Where any State transport undertaking is of opinion that fctr the purpose of providing an efficient, adequate, eco· uomical and properly coordinated road transport service, it is necessary in the public interest that road transport ser­ vices in general or any particular class of such service in relation to any area. or route or portiqn thereof should be run .and operated by the State transport undertaking, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of other persons or qther­ wise, the State transport undertaking may prepare a scheme _giving particulars of the nature of the services proposed to be :rendered, the area or route propcjsed to be covered and such other particulars respecting there to as may be pres· .cribed, and shall cause every such scheme to be published in the Official Gazette and also in such other manner as ihe State Government ma.y direct". It is clear that a scheme under s. 68C can be framed only in rela­ ' tion to an area or route or part thereof see Dosa Satyanarayanamurty, .etc. v. The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation('). We do not think ihat the word 'area' occurring in s. 68C has .the same meaning as the word 'rQUte' in the section. When s. 68C talks e>f 'area' or 'route' or part thereof, it is not to be presumed that the legislature made no distinction between 'area' and 'route'. No doubt, a route must necessarily run over an area but, for that reason, one cannot equate an area to a route. An area simplidter is certainly not a route. Its potentially to become a route would not make it a route. A route is an area plus sdmething more. At any rate, there is no justification for making an assumption that ihe legislature, in the con­ text of s. 68C did not want to make any distinction betw~n 'area' and 'roue'. In Dosa Satyanamurty's Case('}, Subba Rao, J. e>bserved : . "Under s. 68C of the Act the scheme may be framed in respect of any area ()r a r<*Jte or a portion of any area or a portion of a route. There is no inherent inconsistency bet­ ween an ~~a' and a 'route I The proposed route is also an area hm1ted to the route propclsed. The scheme may as well propose to o~rate a trapsport service in respect of a new route from pomt A to point B and ihat route would certainly be an area within the meaning rl. s. 68C''. There can be no dispute ·that a route postulates an area. But, for that rea.~on, as we said, it is difficult to maintain that ihe legislature made no distincti~n between th~ .two. In s.2 ( 1), the definition is only o'f the word 'area . That defimtton does not speak cl. any route. By Act 56 of 1969, the legislature has defined the expression 'route' ·in :S. 2(28A). That reads : " 'route' means a line .of travel which specifies ihe high­ way which may be traversed by a moor vehicle between one terminus and another". (I) [19'61] 1 S.C.R. 642, 664. c. P. SIKH MOTOR SERVICE v. MAHARASHTRA (Mathew, ].) 15 Certainly, the line of travel which specifies the highway . which ' may be traversed by a motor vehicle is an area. but nevertheless, the two are distinct. Otherwise, the legislature would not have found it necessary tct provide a separate definition clause for 'route'. If, therefore, in respect of a scheme in relation to a route or routes, it is not necessary that the State Government should make a notification specifying the route or routes, we fail to understand the reasqn why the State Government should specify the area by a notifi­ cation in the gazette for framing a scheme in relation to an area. In other words, it is impossible to understand the rationale behind the distinction why when a scheme is framed in relation to an area a noti­ fication in the gazette specifying its extent is necessary. and why when it is framed in relation to a rciute or routes a notification specifying the route or routes is not required. When s. 68C says "where any State Transport Undertaking is of opinion that. . . . . . it is necessary in the public interest that road transport services in general or any particular class of such service in relation to any area cit' route or portion thereof should be run and operated by · the State transport undertaking'", it means, in the context of the present case, that the Corporation has to form an cipinion whether it is necessary in the public interest that road transport service should be nationalized in relation to any area or route. We· are aware of a plausible construe· tion cf. the section which would enable the Corporation to form an opinion only as to the necessity i~ the public interest of a scheme in relation to an area specified in the notification by the State Government. But we think, it comports more with the legislative purpose to hqld that the 'State transport undertaking is invested with the discretion to select the area in relation to which it will frame the scheme than to hold that that discretion has been vested in the State Government. If, in forming an opinicln with respect to the necessity of a scheme in relation to a route or routes, the power of 'State transport undertak·· ·ing' and, therefore, of the Corporation, is untrammelled by an outside authcirity like the State Government, we fail to see why it cannot form an opinion as to the necessity of a scheme in relation to any area in the State. As the Gorporation here was established for the whole of the State of Maharashtra, it was within its power to form an qpinion as to necessity of a ·scheme in relation to any area or route wit~in the State. We hold that there is no substance in the first contention pf the appel­ lants. The second point urged cin behalf of the appellants was that a scheme framed under s. 68C should specify all the necessary particu· Jars and as it did not specify the minimum and maximum number of vehicles to be put on a route as also the minimum and maximum trips in respect of each route, the scheme was invalid. The decision of this Court in Aswathamarayan Singh v. State of Mysore(1) was relied on in support of this contention. (I) [1966) 1 S. C. R. 87_, at 92 and 94. .In the first place, t.his contention was not taken before the State Gqvernment in the objections filed by the appellants to the Sche~e. Quite apart from that, we think that· there is· ncl factual foundation for .. the contention. The approved scheme specifies the · minimm . ~ m~um number of vehicles to be put on a route as also the mini· mum and maximum trips in respect of each route. . ·We dismiss the appeals without costs. We also dismiss. the peti­ tio~ fpr special leave tel appeal. i' P.B.R. Appeals dismissed.