Judgment

WANCHOO, J. :- These 37 appeals on certificates from the judgment of the Mysore High Court raise common questions and will be dealt with together. The appellants are motor bus operators in the district of Bellary in the State of Mysore. It appears that two draft schemes for taking over passenger bus routes were published by the State Transport Undertaking (hereinafter referred to as the Undertaking) in May 1962. Objections to those schemes were heard by the State Government and the schemes were approved after some modifications and published in the Mysore Gazette in August 1962. The approved schemes were however challenged by the motor bus operators who were operating in the district before the High Court by writ petitions and the two schemes were quashed by the High Court on September 24, 1962, for reasons into which it is unnecessary to go.

2. Then the Undertaking published another scheme on November 1, 1962 in the Mysore gazette for taking over the routes mentioned therein to the entire exclusion of the existing motor bus operators. This scheme was published under the State Transport Undertaking (Mysore) Rules, 1960. Objections to the scheme were heard by the State Government on various dates in April and May 1963. In the meantime, the State Transport Undertakings Rules were under modification and the revised rules were published on April 25, 1963. The last date for hearing of objections by the State Government was May 23, 1963. On July 25, 1963, the Rules of 1963 came into force. The order of the State Government approving the scheme was made on April 18, 1964 and thereafter the approved scheme with such modifications as the State Government had made was published in the gazette on May 7, 1964. Then followed applications by the Undertaking to the Regional Transport Authority for issue of permits in accordance with the scheme. Soon thereafter writ petitions were filed by various motor bus operators challenging the validity of the approved scheme in the first week of August 1964, and the implementation of the scheme was stayed by the High Court. On February 23, 1965, the High Court dismissed the writ petitions. Thereafter the High Court granted certificates to the appellants to appeal; and that is how the matter has come up before us.

3. A large number of contentions have been urged on behalf of the appellants to which we shall refer in due course. But the two main contentions that have been urged are : (i) it was not open, under the Motor Vehicles Act, No. 4 of 1939, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and the Rules thereunder, to the State Government when approving the scheme to specify minimum and maximum number of motor vehicles to be put on each route and minimum and maximum number of trips to be made on each route and in so far as the approved scheme makes such a provisions it is ultra vires, and (ii) when the draft scheme was published the Rules of 1960 were in force and the draft scheme only specified the maximum number of vehicles and trips for each route, but by the time the State Government disposed of the objections, Rules of 1963 had come into force and the approved scheme provided both for minimum and maximum number of vehicles and trips on each route. As, however, the minimum number was not specified in the draft scheme, there was no opportunity to the objectors to put forward their objections to this feature of the scheme and therefore principles of natural justice had been violated by the State Government, which has been held to be a quasi judicial authority for this purpose, when approving the scheme.

4. We shall deal with these two main objections first and then consider other points raised on behalf of the appellants. It is not in dispute that one fixed number of vehicles as well as of trips can be provided in the scheme. The question that arises is whether the fixing of a minimum and maximum number of vehicles and trips, as has been done in the approved scheme, is also permissible under the Act. Th