Rabideb Mukherjee vs The State Of West Bengal And Others
2022 Latest Caselaw 1919 Cal

   167
08.04.2022
   TN



                               WPA No.5633 of 2022

                               Rabideb Mukherjee
                                       Vs.
                         The State of West Bengal and others


             Mr. Sakti Pada Jana,
             Mr. Subhajyoti Das
                                                  .... for the petitioner

             Mr. Pantu Deb Roy,
             Mr. Anand Farmaria
                                                         .... for the State




                   Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that

             the petitioner has been enjoying several renewed

             temporary permits to run his vehicle on the route

             Bankura      to   Raniganj   via   Mejia.    Subsequently,

             however, when the petitioner applied for a permanent

             stage carriage permit to ply his bus on the said route,

             an offer letter was issued by the Secretary, RTA

             (Regional     Transport      Authority),     Bankura     on

             September 16, 2021 wherein, among other clauses,

             Clause 1 of the said offer letter contained a stipulation

             that the vehicle has to be of BS-IV model or higher

             and should be registered in the name of the applicant
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and produced physically before the authority for

inspection.

      Learned counsel, by placing reliance on the

relevant Notification dated February 20, 2018 annexed

at pages-34 and 35 of the writ petition, indicates that

in Rule 115 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989,

after Sub-Rule (20), a new Sub-Rule was inserted by

the said Notification, which stipulates specifically that

a new sub-Rule (21) is to be introduced, which

specifies that new motor vehicles conforming to ES

(Emission Standard) Bharat Stage-IV, manufactured

before the 1st April, 2020 shall not be registered after

the 30th June, 2020.

      It is submitted that although such stipulation

has been introduced, the same is restricted to

registration of new vehicles, which have to comply BS-

IV standard.

      However, it is further argued that the petitioner

has all along been plying his vehicle on the aforesaid

route with his BS-III compliant bus, the certificate of

fitness of which is valid at least for three more years.

      Learned counsel appearing for the respondent-

authorities contends that in view of the certificate of

fitness of the petitioner's bus being valid only for three

more years, in view of the extant Rule that transport

vehicles beyond 15 years would not be permitted to

ply, which is restricted to the KMA (Kolkata

Metropolitan Area). However, it is fairly submitted that

there is no specific bar in that regard in respect of the

vehicles plying outside the KMA area.

Learned counsel for the respondent-authorities

also hands over a copy of an unreported judgment of

the National Green Tribunal (Eastern Zone Bench,

Kolkata) dated August 11, 2016 passed in Original

Application No.33/2014/EZ, wherein it was

mentioned that in Notification dated August 7, 2012,

which was issued in pursuance of an observation of

this court, it was inter alia prescribed that vehicles

plying within Kolkata Municipal Corporation and

areas under Salt Lake and Lake Town Police Stations

should have Bharat Stage IV emission norms while in

the rest of the State it was required to be of Bharat

Stage III.

However, learned counsel further contends that

since Section 81 of the Motor Vehicles Act specifies

that a permanent licence shall operate for at least five

years from issuance, in the present case, the issuance

of a permanent certificate would entail that the vehicle

of the petitioner would lose the validity in respect of

its certificate of fitness prior to the expiry of such

period.

Upon hearing learned counsel for the parties, it

is evident from the records that the restriction

stipulated in the Notification bearing G.S.R. 178(E)

dated February 20, 2018 published by the Ministry of

Road Transport and Highways is limited to

registration of new vehicles manufactured before 1st

April, 2020. However, there is no bar stipulated in the

said Notification in respect of Bharat Stage III

vehicles, which was the earlier model, to ply on the

roads. Moreover, such restriction is limited also to the

Metropolitan areas and does not apply to the route for

which the petitioner seeks a permanent stage carriage

permit, which entirely lies beyond the Kolkata

Metropolitan area.

Hence, Clause 1 of the offer letter dated

September 16, 2021, which stipulates that the

vehicles of BS-IV model or higher should be registered

in the name of the applicant and produced physically

before the authority for inspection, loses its validity

and justification.

Moreover, Clause 1(b) of the same offer letter

clearly provides that vehicle must have valid certificate

of fitness.

Again, it is always possible for the permit-holder

to replace the vehicle within the ambit of Section 83 of

the Motor Vehicles Act in the event the same does not

retain the validity of its certificate of fitness.

In such view of the matter, even if the validity of

the certificate of fitness of the petitioner's present

Bharat Stage III vehicle expires during the tenure of

the permit, it would be open to the authorities to

insist upon the petitioner replacing such vehicle with

an appropriate vehicle having valid certificate of

fitness.

In such view of the matter, Clause 1 of the offer

letter, as indicated above, cannot stand judicial

scrutiny.

Accordingly, WPA No.5633 of 2022 is allowed,

thereby striking out Clause 1 of the offer letter issued

to the petitioner on September 16, 2021 (Annexure -

P-4 at page-33 of the writ petition) in respect of the

permanent stage carriage permit for bus being granted

to the petitioner for the route Bankura to Mejia via

Chhatna, Susunia, Lakshmanpur, Kushthal,

Sorakdihi. The offer letter, however, will retain its

legality and validity insofar as the rest of its clauses

are concerned.

Accordingly, the petitioner shall do the needful

and comply with all the formalities on the premise

that the offer letter does not contain the said vitiated

Clause 1 as found in Annexure - P-4 at page-33 of the

writ petition.

The authorities shall, in the event the petitioner

complies with all formalities, grant such permanent

permit to the petitioner without insisting upon

compliance of Clause 1 of the offer letter, which has

been struck down by the present order.

There will be no order as to costs.

Urgent photostat certified copies of this order, if

applied for, be made available to the parties upon

compliance with the requisite formalities.

(Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya, J.)