The modification or cancellation of an approved scheme under Section 68-D of the Motor Vehicles Act requires following the procedure laid down in Sections 68-C, 68-D, and 68-E. The RTA has the discretion to fix the date from which a private operator's permit becomes ineffective under Section 68-F(2), which must be exercised reasonably.

PARATHASARATHI, J.

( 1 ) THE two appellants seek to impugn the action of the Regional Transport Authority which by its decision dated 17-10-1966 rendered ineffective their stage carriage permits for plying buses on the route Vuyyuru to Thelaprolu, beyond December 31, 1966. They urge identical grounds in support of their plea and consequently the two Writ Petitions were heard together and were decided by a common judgment by Ekbote, J. These appeals call in question the dismissal of the Writ Petitions by our learned brother.

( 2 ) THE facts that led to the impugned decision of the Regional Transport Authority (referred to herein as the transport authority) are as follows: The two appellants are transport operators each owning a bus; They held stage carriage permits relating to the route Vuyyur-Telaprolu which is a sector of the longer route Vijayawada to Vuyyur. The State Transport undertaking mooted a scheme of road transport service under Section 68-C of the Motor Vehicles Act (for brevitys sake called the Act ). The scheme which included the route in question was not approved by the State Government. There was a fresh notification made by the Transport undertaking (i. e. the State Road Transport Corporation) under Section 68-C of the Act. The fresh notification purported to relate to a scheme involving four routes, three of which were of the Telangana area and the fourth one is the route concerning which these proceedings are initiated. It can by no means be said to be a coordinated transport system relating to the four routes. The scheme was nevertheless accorded approval by the State Government on 19-11-1959 under Section 68-D.

( 3 ) THE transport undertaking implemented the approved scheme by obtaining the necessary permits under Section 68-F in respect of the three routes of the Telangana Area. As regards the route now in question, nothing was then done by the transport undertaking to give effect to the approved scheme. The two operators who held permits had them renewed for a period of three years from 10-12-1958 to 12-12-1961, and again for a further period of three years from December, 1961 and yet against till 18-12-1967 in one case and 31-3-1968 in the other case. The scheme which emerged as the approved scheme under Section 68-D by virtue of the Governments sanction was not implemented in its entirety. It was carried out only in so far as the three routes in the Telangana area were concerned.

( 4 ) THERE was thus a state of suspended animation in regard to the Vijayawada-Vuyyur route over a sector of which the appellants were allowed to operate as before. The Transport undertaking, which was alive to the omission as regards implementation of the approved scheme in respect of the present route started proceedings afresh by publishing a scheme under Section 68-C on 21st November, 1961. This was done because it was deemed doubtful whether the approved scheme still held the filed. It is to be noted that in addition to the route now in question, there was only another route in the scheme initiated by the later notification. While according approval under Section 68-D the State Government restricted it to the route Vijayawada to Mudunuru. This is clear from G. O. No. 1053 dated June 8, 1962. Although the route, here in question, was included in the newly adumbrated scheme under Section 68-C, there was no approval of that part of the scheme under clause D of the Section 68.

( 5 ) IT was in that situation that action was taken by the Transport authority under Section 68-F (2) (c) (1) of the Act for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme dated 19th November, 1959. The proceedings dated 17-10-1966 evidence the decision of the transport authority that the permits of he vehicles of the appellants were to be ineffective beyond 31-12-1966. This decision was founded on and was designed to give effect to the scheme of November 19, 1959. The two appellants held permits which were valid in one case till 18th December, 1967, and

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