Jayanta Ghosh vs The State of West Bengal and Others

Hon''ble Mr. Justice Jayanta Kumar Biswas

Questioning two notices dated August 7, 2012 and August 31, 2012 (WP pp. 14-15) this WP under art. 226 of the Constitution has been filed. It is not disputed that the petitioner applied in response to the notices. Pointing out this, Mr. Deb Roy appearing for the State has questioned the maintainability of the WP.

The notices were issued by the District Magistrate, Cooch Behar inviting applications for the grant of permits for the routes mentioned in the documents enclosed with the notice. The enclosures have not been produced with the WP. Hence it is not known for which routes the applications were invited.

Mr. Deb Roy has submitted that a large number of applications have been received in response to the notices, and that the petitioner has not been able to demonstrate how the notices have prejudiced him, especially when he himself applied in response to the notices.

No provision of any law authorized the District Magistrate to issue the impugned notices. A person intending to get a permit under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 is free to submit his application according to the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder.

Hence all the persons who applied in response to the notices, could apply for the grant of permit even in the absence of the notices inviting applications and their applications do not become invalid, simply because they submitted them in response to the notices. The applications are to be decided according to the provisions of the Act and the rules, not the terms and conditions mentioned in the notices.

This being the position, I am unable to see why power under art. 226 should be exercised for directing the respondents not to consider the applications submitted in response to the notices. For these reasons, I dispose of the WP ordering as follows. All the applications received by the respondents in response to the notices in question and applications received otherwise shall be considered by the RTA strictly according to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and the rules made thereunder, and not according to the terms and conditions mentioned in the notices. No costs. Certified xerox.