Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—In this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the ‘Constitution’) the petitioners have questioned legality of certain notifications purportedly issued by various States like Punjab and Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh under the provisions of Section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (in short the ‘Act’). Stand of the petitioners is that by the notifications certain acts outside the ambit of Section 200 of the Act have been covered, though those were committed in clear violation of mandate of Sections 113 and 114 read with Section 194 of the Act. The notifications have been issued which in effect condone the offence and permit its continuance though legally no such continuation could have been permitted. It is the stand of the petitioners that under the Act and the Rules made thereunder the maximum gross weight of the vehicles, more particularly, transport vehicles have been fixed. Both under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (in short the ‘Old Act’) and the Act maximum gross weight for each axle of a truck in relation to the size and number of tyres fitted therein i