1. The petitioner in O. P. No. 498 of 1958, Messrs. V.G.K. Bus Service (Private) Limited is the appellant before as. The company is operating buses from Coduvayur to Coimbatore via Thattamangalam and Velanthavalam.

2. Velanthavalam is on the frontier between the Kerala State and the Coimbatore District of the Madras State. The distance between Thattamangalam and Velanthavalam is 17 miles and the distance between Valanthavalam and Coimbatore is 16 miles.

3. The third respondent Messrs. P. N. Krishna Iyer & Sons (Private) Limited was a bus operator from Trichur to Velanthavalam via Thattamangalam. That company applied for an extension of its route from Velanthavalam to Coimbatore The R. T. B. Trichur, over-ruled the objections of the appellant and allowed the variation.

4. The appellant then appealed under S.64 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939. That appeal was heard on 29-11-1957 by the first respondent and dismissed on 12-3-1958 on the preliminary ground that it was not maintainable.

5. The appellant then invoked Art.228 of the Constitution and challenged the correctness of the decision by O.P. No. 498 of 1958. Vaidialingam, J. before whom the petition came up for hearing, di