Sri. M.S.Ajithkumar and Sri. S. Ramdas who were conducting travel agencies and contract carriage services, filed this Original Petition for declaring that the respondent police officials have no power or authority to detain and seize tourist vehicles belonging to the petitioners and other operators for the alleged violation of the offences under Chapter XIII of the Motor Vehicles Act (for short to be referred as the Act hereinafter) and in the guise of inspection and on trivial offences and also for directing respondents 1 to 3 to consider and pass orders and to dispose of Exts. P12 and P13 representations made by the petitioner.

2. The allegations in the petition briefly as follows: Petitioners were conducting travel agencies and also conducting contract carriage services. Their business includes arranging tours and contract carriage operation for which they have obtained the required licence. They used to issue tickets for conveying passengers for travel in such vehicles by appointing agents. They were operating the vehicles and transporting passengers strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the Rules. The grievance of the petitioners was that the respondents, the police officials were unnecessarily conducting checking of the buses and were imposing fine and penalty in spite of the vehicles in question were satisfying all the requirements of law and that the vehicles were unnecessarily detained and passengers were compelled to get down from the bus and strand for many hours under he guise of checking and for trivial offences/violations. Further the drivers were compelled to compound the offences on trivial matters alleged against them and the vehicles were being detained and seized causing much hardships to the passengers as well as to operators.

3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Government Pleader.

4. Petitioners were contract carriage operators as well as agents arranging tours. They were issuing tickets to passengers who were traveling to distinct places like Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc. The grievance of the petitioners was that the respondents were causing much inconvenience to the passengers and also to the operators by detaining the vehicles for a long time and seizing the vehicles for trivial matters and the passengers were compelled to get down from the bus and stranded indefinitely on the street. It was further submitted that even though this court had directed on several occasions not to cause inconvenience to the passengers traveling long distance for trivial matters, the police officials are still adopting the same course and harassing the passengers and operators, and hence the petitioners were compelled to file this Original Petition for appropriate directions. The learned Government Pleader submitted that appropriate directions had been issued to the police officials not to cause any inconvenience to the passengers while checking the vehicles and vehicles need be seized only on very exceptional circumstances under Section 207 of the Act.

5. Section 207 of the Act envisages the seizure of the vehicles for the violation of certain provisions of the Act.

Section 207 reads:

"(1) Any police officer or other person authorized in this behalf by the State Government may, if he has reason to believe that a motor vehicle has been or is being used in contravention of the provisions of section 3 or section 4 or section 39 or without the permit required by sub-section (1) of the Section 66 or in contravention of any condition of such permit relating to the route on which or the area in which or the purpose for which the vehicle may be used, seize and detain the vehicle in the prescribed manner and for this purpose take or cause to be taken any steps he may consider proper for the temporary safe custody of the vehicle.

Provided that where any such officer or person has reason to believe that a motor vehicle has been or is being used in contravention of section