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 Govern