( 1 ) IN all these writ petitions common questions of law are involved and hence, therefore they are decided by a common judgment.

( 2 ) THE question that arises for consideration in all these writ petitions iswhether any permission of the authorities is required for reducing the seating capacity in the contract carriage vehicles.

( 3 ) THE factual matrix in the nutshell is that the petitioners are owning thelight Motor Vehicles having seating capacity of more than 6 excluding the driver. In some cases, the petitioners have purchased the vehicles from the manufacturers which are having seating capacity of more than 6 passengers excluding the driver. They intend to run the vehicles as contract carriages and also under All India Tourist Taxi Cab Permits under Section 88 (9) of the Motor Vehicles Act. The stand of the petitioners is that they have effected necessary adaptions in the seating arrangement by reducing the seating to 6 excluding the driver so as to give better tourist facilities and that they may be permitted to adopt the seating capacity of 7 in all to run under All India tourist Motor Cab Permits or contract carriages as the case may be. Some of the applications were rejected by the authority stating that it was neither permissible nor advisable to reduce the seats and it is against the prototype brought out by the manufacturer as approved by the competent authority. The authorities also relied on the instructions of the Transport Commissioner who directed not to permit the alterations involving structural changes until the Report from the A. R. I. E. is received.

( 4 ) COMMON counter has been filed by the Transport Department statingthat once the seating capacity is fixed by the manufacturer it cannot be altered unless the seating capacity is fixed on wrong calculations. The seating capacity as certified by the manufacturer is the crieteria for entering in the Certificate of Registration. Further if the vehicle is registered as 10 Seater, the tax has to be levied @ 126/- per seat per quarter and if the vehicle is used as contract carriage, the rate of tax is Rs. 1,150/- per seat within the District or if it plies within the State of Andhra Pradesh or outside the State the tax is rs. 2,500/- per seat per quarter. The rate of tax is different for these vehicles. For seating capacity of 6 in all and 7 in all the tax is Rs. 414/- per seat per quarter and for more than 7 seats upto 50 Rs. 2,500/- per seat per quarter. The petitioner intends to reduce the seating capacity from 10 to 7 in all with a view to avoid the tax liability and to deny the revenue to the State. It is further stated that once the seating capacity is fixed by the manufacturer it cannot be altered as mandated by the third proviso to Rule 334 of A. P. M. V. Rules unless such reduction was necessitated on account of wrong calculation of the measurements or on reconstruction of the body. The vehicles are designed with appropriate seating capacity. Hence, the seating capacity cannot be changed. Further in order to avoid payment of tax, they are seeking reduced seating capacity,

( 5 ) THE learned Counsel appearing for the petitioners in all the writ petitionssubmit that there is no prohibition to convert the motor vehicles which do not fall within the definition of motor cab (which means any motor vehicle constructed or adapted to carry not more than 6 passengers excluding the driver for hire or reward ). The seating is adapted as to accommodate 6 passengers excluding the driver. Therefore, there is no prohibition for registering the seating capacity as 7 in all. They also submit that under section 52 alteration of motor vehicle is permissible with the permission of the authorities. The seats were reduced in order to provide better travelling comforts to the passengers. Therefore, they submit that the action of the respondents in rejecting the applications for registering the passenger capacity of 7 in all is illegal and contrary to rules.