JUDGMENT

DESAI, J.:— In this group of special leave petitions and writ petitions, constitutional validity of Section 47 (1-H) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (Act for short) directly or indirectly figures. With a view to focussing attention on the context in which the question is raised, it may be advantageous to refer to the factual matrix in S. L. P. 6605/83, in which the learned single Judge and the Division Bench of the High Court repelled the challenge. We would first deal with the principal challenge common to all petitions and then dispose of specific contention raised in other petitions clubbed together here. For representative facts we would refer to S. L. P. 6605/83.

Re : S. L. P. No. 6605/83 : Petitioner Sher Singh is the holder of a stage carriage permit on Behror-Rewari via Barrod, Shahjahanpur inter-State route. A portion of the route from Bahror to National Highway No. 8 via Barrod and Shahjahanpur 28 k.ms. in length passes through Rajasthan State and the rest of the portion of the route 22 k.ms. in length lies in Haryana State. It is thus an inter-State route. Petitioner holds 12 permits for operating on the aforementioned route. Of the 12 permits, the period prescri