JUDGMENT

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J.:— These appeals have been placed before us primarily to resolve a conflict between Ram Sanehi Singh v. Bihar State Road Transport Corporation, (1971) 3 SCC 797, Mysore State Road Transport Corpn. v. Mysore Revenue Appellate Tribunal, (1975) 1 SCR 493 and Mysore State Road Transport Corporation v. Mysore Revenue Appellate Tribunal, (1975) 1 SCR 615. The question for our consideration, is, where a route is nationalised under Chapter IVA of the Motor Vehicles Act, whether a private operator with a permit to ply a stage carriage over another route but which has a common overlapping sector with the nationalised route can ply his vehicle over that part of the overlapping common sector if he does not pick up or drop passengers on the overlapping part of the route? The answer to the question really turns on the terms of the scheme rather than on the provisions of the statute, as we shall presently show.

2. We will mention here the facts of a few cases which are illustrative of the question raised. In Civil Appeal No. 684 of 1981, the appellants hold a stage carriage permit over the route Meerut to Ambala via Bamanheri, Deoband, Gagalheri and Saharanpur. One part