Judgement

K. SUBBA RAO, J. : (On behalf of S. R. Das CJI., N. H. Bhagwati and K. Subba Rao JJ. ) - This is an application under Art. 32 of the Constitution for the enforcement of the petitioners fundamental right to carry on the business of motor transport in Krishna District in Andhra Pradesh, and for prohibiting the respondents from taking over the routes on which the petitioners have been plying their stage carriages.

2. The petitioners have been carrying on motor transport business in Krishna District for several years past by obtaining permits under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (IV of 1939) as amended by Act l00 of 1956, hereinafter called the Act, in respect of various routes. They estimate the value of their investment in the business at a sum of Rs. 20,00,000.

3. The amending Act inserted a new Chaper IV-A in the Act providing for the State Transport Undertaking running the business to the exclusion, complete or partial, of all other persons doing business in the State. Chapter IV-A provided for a machinery called the State Transport Undertaking, defined under S. 68-A (b) as an undertaking providing road transport service, to run the transport business in the State. In exercis