Judgment

SUBBA RAO, J.: This appeal by special leave raises the question of the scope of Art. 132(2) of the Constitution.

2. The first respondent is one of the shareholders of the second respondent M/s. Jammu Kashmir Mechanics And Transport Workers Co-operative Society Limited, Jammu (hereinafter called the Society). The Society was registered under the Jammu and Kashmir Co-operative Societies Act No. 6 of 1993 (Vikrimi). They put in a number of applications before the third appellant for the grant of stage carriage and public carrier permits to them for various routes in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, but no permits were granted to them on the ground that under R. 4-47 of the Jammu and Kashmir Motor Vehicles Rules (hereinafter called the Rules), service licence could only be issued to a person or a company registered under the Partnership Act and that, as the Society was neither a person nor a partnership, it was not entitled to a licence under the Rules. The respondents filed a petition in the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir under S. 103 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir challenging the vires of R. 4-47 of the Rules. To that petition the appellants herein, viz., the Governm