ORDER

1. Leave granted. Application for intervention allowed. Heard counsel for appellants and the respondents.

2. The case has chequered history the facts of which have been traced by this Court in Ram Krishna Verma v. State of U.P. {(1992) 2 SCC 620} This Court in that judgment held that the draft scheme published on 26-2-1959 and the fresh draft scheme published pursuant to the directions by this Court of 13-2-1986 had not lapsed. The 50 operators to whom this Court in Jeewan Nath Wahal case {Jeewan Nath Wahal v. State Transport Appellate Tribunal, CA Nos. 1616-1617 of 1966, decided on 3-4-1968 : 1968 SCN 369} gave the right of hearing, by resorting to the abuse of the process of the court, forfeited their right of hearing and they no more would be entitled to the hearing before the approving authority. It was also declared in Jeewan Nath Wahal case {Jeewan Nath Wahal v. State Transport Appellate Tribunal, CA Nos. 1616- 1617 of 1966, decided on 3-4-1968 : 1968 SCN 369} that this Court had already approved the Shaharanpur-Shahdara-Delhi scheme published under Section 68-C except to the extent of hearing the objections of the 50 operators. The hearing being only a procedural formality, the objections filed by the 50 operators outlived their purpose. Accordingly this Court gave directions as under :

"The grant of permits to all the respondents/private operators and Respondents 7 to 285 in CA No. 1198 of 1992 (SLP No. 9701 of 1990) under Section 80 of the Act or any others on the respective routes, parts or portions of the nationalised routes on 13-2-1986 draft scheme are quashed. The hearing authority shall lodge the objections of the 50 operators including the appellants herein. The competent authority shall approve the draft scheme of 1986 within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the judgment, and publish the approved scheme in the Gazette. The permits granted to the 50 operators or any other shall stand cancelled from that date, if not having expired in the meanwhile. No permit shall be renewed. Appropriate action should be taken by Respondent 3 too in CA No. 1198 of 1992 (SLP No. 9701 of 1990) to see that all the permits granted to the 50 operators including the appellants are seized and cancelled. The U.P. State Transport Corporation shall obtain required additional permits, if need be, and put the stage carriages on the routes to provide transport service, to the travelling public immediately on publication of the approved draft scheme in the State Gazette. The appeal arising out of SLP No. 2033 of 1991 is allowed with costs throughout against Respondents 4 to 13. The appeal arising out of SLP Nos. 6300 of 1991, 9701 of 1990 and 9702 of 1990 are allowed without costs."

Thereafter the approved scheme was published by the Government on 29-5-1993. The appellants filed the writ petition in High Court not only questioning the correctness of the judgment of this Court but also the approved scheme published by the Government on 29-5-1993. In our view quite rightly High Court declined to accede to the contentions made by the appellants on the correctness of the judgment of this Court. The directions issued by this Court under Article 142(1) are binding on all the parties including the 50 operators and were declared to be bound by the orders passed by this Court in Ram Krishna Verma case {(1992) 2 SCC 620}. Therefore, they are bound by the orders passed by this Court in the above judgment.

3. The only contention raised by Shri G. Ramaswami, the learned Senior Counsel, is that by operation of Section 100(3), proviso of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (for short the Act), the prior approval of the Central Government relating to the scheme on the inter-State route is mandatory and this Court never intended to violate that mandatory requirement in proviso to sub-section (3) of Section 100. It is also contended that if the scheme was not published under sub-section (4) of Section 100 within a period of one year from the date of