( 1 ) A Division Bench of this Court consisting of My Lord the Chief Justice and Venkatesh, J. has referred the following question for the opinion of Full bench. "whether a permit granted in violation of the provisions of sub-sec. (3) of sec. 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, can be validated solely on the ground that the operator has operated the stage carriage services on the route for a long period and that interference with such unlawful grant on a hypertechnical ground would not be in public interest ?"

( 2 ) THE facts leading to this reference are succinctly stated in the order of reference made by the Division Bench. Therefore, it is not necessary to burden the record by repeating them in our order.

( 3 ) THE permits in question which were the subject matter of challenge before the learned Single Judge were admittedly granted in violation of the provisions of sub-section (3) of Section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act (in short 'the Act' ). But, they were sought to be validated on the ground that the Petitioners/operators had operated the stage carriage services on the routes in question for a long period and, therefore, this Court should not on a Technical gr