Allahabad High Court
Yogesh Kumar Mishra vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others on 15 July, 2014
Bench: Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, Chief Justice, Dilip Gupta
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?AFR
Chief Justice's Court
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 31251 of 2014
Petitioner :- Yogesh Kumar Mishra
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Anand Kumar Singh, Sriprakash Dwivedi
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, Chief Justice
Hon'ble Dilip Gupta, J.
The petitioner is the owner of two mini buses and plies them on the basis of a stage carriage permit from Varanasi to Sarai Mamrej via Jansa, Kapsethi, Chauri Bhadohi. The permit which was issued by the Regional Transport Authority, Mirzapur in respect of one of the vehicles bearing registration No. UP66T-1255 is valid until 26 January 2017. The petitioner has applied for a permit on a route which falls within two districts. The petitioner has averred that the Regional Transport Authority, Mirzapur declined to entertain the application dated 26 February 2014 on the ground that clause 6(Ka) contained in the resolution dated 19 March 2013 states that where an applicant applies for a permit for another district in addition to his home district, he shall have to file a character certificate obtained from both the home district as well as the adjoining district. In other words, a character certificate is required to be obtained from the District Magistrate, both of the home district and the adjoining district in respect of which the stage carriage permit is sought. The petitioner is aggrieved by this condition which, it is urged, is arbitrary.
When the petition came up on 1 July 2014, we had directed the learned Standing Counsel to take instructions and, if necessary, to
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file a short counter affidavit explaining the rationale for imposing this condition. No counter has been filed. Learned Standing Counsel, however, states that instructions have now been furnished to him.
We see no reason or justification for the imposition of a condition requiring an applicant to furnish character certificates from both the districts, namely the home district as well as the adjoining district in respect of which a stage carriage permit is sought for plying the vehicle on a route which falls within the ambit of two districts. Character of an applicant has to be certified by the District Magistrate having jurisdiction over the place where the applicant is an ordinary resident. Merely because an applicant desires to carry on business, in this case operating a stage carriage which covers more than one district, there is no logical reason to require a character certificate to be furnished from the District Magistrate of the adjoining district as well. The character of an applicant does not alter depending upon whether he has to ply his bus/vehicle in one or more than one district. In the circumstances, we are of the view that clause (Ka) shows a patent non-application of mind and has no reasonable justification. In fact, learned Standing Counsel has also not been able to point out any justification at all.
In these circumstances, we read down the requirement of clause (Ka) of the resolution of the second respondent dated 19 March 2013 to mean that the applicant shall furnish a character certificate from the home district. The requirement of an additional character certificate from the adjoining district shall not be insisted upon.
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The application of the petitioner shall now be considered in terms of the aforesaid directions.
The petition is, accordingly, disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.
Order Date :- 15.7.2014
AHA
(Dr. D.Y. Chandrachud, C.J.)
(Dilip Gupta, J.)
