JUDGMENT

DESAI, J.:— The intrepid albeit affluent transport operators again succeeded in their none-too-legal designs to operate vehicles not by obtaining statutory permits but to put it mildly by abuse of the courts process.

2. By a judgment rendered by this Court in S. Kannan v. Secretary, Karnataka State Road Transport Authority (1984) 1 SCC 375. On August 29, 1983, this Court held that grant of a temporary all-India tourist permit is foreign to the very concept of all-India tourist permit as envisaged by sub-section (7) of Section 63 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 and accordingly an unusually large number of temporary all-India tourist permits obtained pursuant to the interim relief granted by this Court were set at naught. Some of the present petitioners were directly parties to the petitions disposed of by that judgment. Indefatigable as they are they again approached this Court by a camouflage of challenging the validity of quota of fifty such permits fixed by the Central Government in respect of all-India tourist permit for each State as per Notification No. S. O. 22 dated December 19, 1977 as also failure to fill in the vacancies by the State Transport Authority in Karnataka State to the extent of the sanctioned quota. The challenge was a clever camouflage, the sole underlying motive being to obtain some interim relief by which again temporary permits in compliance with the interim relief granted by this Court may be obtained and the impermissible trade being carried on without a break. To unravel this plot engineered by the petitioners, it may be mentioned that even though the Court by the judgment in the case of S. Kannan rendered on August 29, 1983 set at naught all temporary all-India tourist permits obtained as a consequence of the interim relief granted by this Court, at the special request of some of the petitioners, the Court keeping in view the investment made by the petitioners in providing tourist vehicles continued the interim relief which kept operative the temporary permits till December 31, 1983. The present petitions were filed somewhere in November, 1983. By the order dated November 23, 1983 notice directed to be issued both on the main petition as well as on the stay application was made returnable on December 6, 1983. The petitioners were in no hurry to snatch the interim relief because the order made earlier had infused. life into their so-called temporary permits and kept them operative up to December 31, 1983. On December 16, 1983 in the renewed attempt the Court granted interim relief to the effect that those operators of vehicles who had held all-India tourist permit on October 23, 1983 and who were plying their vehicles shall be permitted to ply the vehicles until April 30, 1984. It is necessary to point out that the petitioners who obtained this interim relief were plying their vehicles on October 23, 1983 under an earlier interim relief which had exhausted itself on August 29, 1983 and this very relevant aspect which would be determinative of the issues involved in the matter appeared not to have been brought even to the notice of the Court which granted interim relief.

3. The respondents appeared and pointed out the facts hereinabove delineated with the result that the petitions were set down for hearing on March 23, 1984.

4. Mr. Shanti Bhushan who led on behalf of the petitioners raised three contentions. It was urged that even though a quota of 50 tourist permits has been sanctioned by the Central Government for each State, the State of Karnataka has not utilise the quota, to the maximum and there are either 25 or 14 vacancies which have been kept unfilled for a long time and therefore, a mandamus must be issued directing the State Transport Authority, Karnataka to perform its statutory duty by considering the applications received for all-India tourist permits and dispose of the same within a reasonable time. It was next contended that if the object underlying the enactment of Section 63 (