A.R. Lakshmanan, g. C.J.

Heard Mr. A. Inees, Mr. P. Ravindran, Mr. P. Gopalakrishna Menon, Mr. K. Jayakumar, Senior Government Pleader, Mr. S.V. Balakrishna Iyer and K.S. Madhusoodanan for the respective parties. These appeals were filed against the judgment of the learned single judge of this Court in O.P. No. 3849 of 1993 dated 7.7.1999. Writ Appeal No. 1554 of 1999 was filed by the Malappuram District Private Bus Operators Association and another. Writ

Appeal No. 1646 of 1999 was preferred by the Trichur Distilct Private Bus Operators' Association represented by its General Secretary. Writ Appeal No. 1647 of 1999 was filed by the Kerala State Private Bus Operators Federation. Writ Appeal No. 1675 of 1999 was filed by the State of Kerala represented by the District Collector, Malappuram and the Regional Transport Officer, Malappuram.

3. The Original Petition was filed by the appellant in Writ Appeal No. 1554 of 1999 against the order in O.P. No. 33 of 1992 passed by the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Malappuram. The said petition was filed by a bus passenger and Secretary of the bus passengers' association of Aliparamba Panchayat. According to the complainant, the complaint was filed to rectify the anomalies in fare stages on the Perinthalmanna-Aliparamba sector. The complainant has impleaded the State of Kerala represented by the District Collector, Malappuram and the Regional Transport Officer, Malappuram as opposite parties. The Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, by its order above referred to ordered the Regional Transport Officer, Malappuram to rectify the mistakes and to refix the fare stage after getting sanction from the Government. It was further ordered that the R.T.A. shall complete all the proceedings within two months after receiving copy of the order to avoid punishment under S.27 of the Consumer Protection Act. None of the appellants were made parties to the original petition filed before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. The appellants in W.A. Nos. 1646,1647 and 1975 of 1999 filed the above appeals after obtaining leave for preferring the appeals against me judgment in O.P. No. 3849 of 1993. All the appellants including the State have raised the following four contentions:

(1) According to them S.94 of the Motor Vehicles Act puts a bar on jurisdiction of civil courts to entertain any question relating to the grant of a permit under the Act and that the Motor Vehicles Act is a self-contained special Act providing rights, liabilities and remedies and that the Regional Transport Authority is the final authority for fixing the fare table and fare stages and that if there is any grievance, the affected party can file a revision under S.90 of the Motor Vehicles Act,

(2) S.3 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 provides that the said Act is not in derogation of the provisions of any other law and that the provisions or the said Act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other 1 aw for the time being in force. Therefore, if any person including a passenger has any grievance, the remedies are provided under the Motor Vehicles Act itself and other civil courts have no jurisdiction to usurp the functions of the Regional Transport Authority.

(3) The appellants who are the bus operators association of Trichur and Malappuram and the Kerala State Private Bus Operators Federation, who are the affected parties, were not parties in the complaint before the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. They were-not heard before passing the impugned order in O.P. No. 3849 of 1993.

According to them the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has no jurisdiction to pass Ext. P2 order and that the Motor Vehicles Act, which is a special Act provides rights and remedies for the affected parties and that the Regional Transport Authority is the final authority to fix fare stages and fare tables and therefore, if there are any grievances, remedy is provided under S.90 of the Motor Vehicles Act by filing a