Judgment

KOSHAL, J.:- This appeal by special leave is directed against a judgment dated the 8th August, 1980 of a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dismissing a petition instituted by the 18 appellants under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in which the reliefs prayed for were-

(a) that the order dated the 19th July, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as the impugned order) passed by the Deputy Secretary (Judicial), Government of Uttar Pradesh, rejecting all the objections filed by the appellants to a scheme (hereinafter called the impugned scheme) published on the 21st January, 1961 in the Government Gazette of Uttar Pradesh under Section 68C of the Motor Vehicles Act 1939 (for brevity, the Act) be set aside as illegal, and

(b) that the notification published in the said Gazette dated the 7th November, 1970 and approving the impugned scheme (for short, the 1970 notification) be quashed.

2. The notification dated the 21st January, 1961 declared that the State Government was of the opinion that "for the purpose of providing an efficient, adequate, economical and properly co-ordinated road transport service, it is necessary in the public interest that road transport services