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Judgment
The challenge in the present appeal is to an order dated 23rd August, 2022 passed by the learned Single Judge dismissing the Appellant’s writ petition i.e. W.P.(C) No.1105 of 2021 whereby he had challenged an order dated 4th March, 2022 passed by the State Transport Appellate Tribunal (STAT), Odisha in MV. Revision No.13 of 2019. The STAT in the said order modified the timing allotted to Respondent No.2 by an order dated 31st August, 2019 in MV Misc. Case No.65 of 2019 and set aside the order dated 15th November, 2019 passed by the Secretary, STA. The STAT allowed Respondent No.2 to ply his vehicle on the route from Gandisar to Cuttack with the departure time at 13.10 hours from Bhubaneswar.
Learned counsel for the Appellant is aggrieved by the said order on the ground that the time of departure of his buses is 2 pm which is very close to the time of departure of the bus of Respondent No.2 and, therefore, it would adversely affect his business.
The Court is unable to accept the said plea. The view expressed by the learned Single Judge that the time gap of 50 minutes between the vehicles’ departure from Bhubaneswar “cannot be said to be a little gap” appears to be correct. Relying on Susil Kumar Panigrahi v. Commissioner-cum-Chairman, State Transport Authority, 89 (2000) CLT 788, it was held that the interval in the time of departure of the two buses would depend on the total volume of passengers available and normally a 25 to 30 minutes gap should be considered as reasonable.
Having heard learned counsel for the Appellant and having perused the impugned order of the learned Single Judge in light of the decision referred to, the Court is unable to be persuaded that any error has been committed by the learned Single Judge in dismissing the Appellant’s writ petition.
There is no merit in the present appeal and it is accordingly dismissed.
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