The main legal point established in the judgment is the principle of implied repeal and the precedence of the latest expression of the will of the legislature, which led to the conclusion that S.286 & 287 of the Travancore District Municipalities Act, 1116, were impliedly repealed by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1125, and inapplicable subsequent to the extension of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, to Travancore-Cochin.

1. These three petitions raise a common question relating to the operation of S.286 & 287 of the Travancore District Municipalities Act, 1116. That Act was passed by his Highness the Maharaja of

Travancore on the 5th July 1941.

2. S.286 & 287 read as follows:

286: "[1] The municipal council may construct or provide public landing places, halting places and cartstands and may levy fees for the use of the same.

[2] A statement in English and a language of the district of the fees fixed by the council for the use of such place shall be put up in a conspicuous part thereof.

Explanation-A cart-stand shall, for the purposes of this Act include a stand for carriages and animals.

287: Where a municipal council has provided a public landing place, halting place or cart stand, the executive authority may prohibit the use for the same purpose by any person within such distance thereof, as may be determined by the municipal council, of any public place or the sides of any public street."

According to sub-section [5] of S.3 of the Act "carriage" means any wheeled vehicle with springs or other appliances acting as springs; and includes any kind of motor car, motor lorry, motor omnibus, motor cycle, bicycle, tricycle and riksha; and according to sub-section [6] of that section "cart" includes any wheeled vehicle which is not a "carriage."

3. In exercise of the powers conferred by S.286, the Palai Municipal Council resolved - resolution No. IX-(1)-(a) dated 12-9-1958 to provide a public bus stand with effect from 1-10-1958, and to levy fees for its use at the following rates:

Rates of fees

1. For buses starting from within Palai Municipal limits and returning to Palai Municipal limits. Fee per day commencing from midnight to the next midnight or fraction of a day. per day. Re. one

2. For buses passing through Palai Municipal limits. Fee per day commencing from midnight to the next midnight or fraction of a day.

per day. --NP. 50

The notification on the subject is Ext. P dated 18-9-1958. It was published in the Kerala Gazette dated 23-9-1958 (Part III, page 174.)

4. The concluding portion of the notification shows that the Executive Authority in exercise of the powers under S.287 of the Act also prohibited the use of any other public place or the sides of any public street "within the Palai Municipal limits "as a bus stand or halting place.

5. Ext. R is the minutes of an urgent special meeting of the Palai Municipal Council held on 22-11-1958. It shows that the following resolution was passed at that meeting:

No further action, however, appears to have been taken by the Executive Authority to restrict the ambit of the prohibition embodied in Ext. P.

6. The Travancore-Cochin Motor Vehicles Act, 1125, came into force on the 5th January 1950. S.72 of that Act reads as follows:

"Government or any authority authorised in this behalf by Government may, in consultation with the local authority having jurisdiction in the area concerned, determine places at which motor vehicles may stand either indefinitely or for a specified period of time, and may determine the places at which public service vehicles may stop for a longer time than is necessary for the taking up and setting down of passengers."

This section continued in force until it was replaced by S.76 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (Central Act No. IV of 1939) on its extension to Travancore-Cochin by the Part B States (Laws) Act, 1951 (Central Act No. III of 1951). The only difference between S.72 of the Travancore-Cochin Motor Vehicles Act 1125, and S.76 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, is the addition of the word "State" before the word "Government" in the two places where the latter word occurs in that section.

7. The first contention of counsel for the petitioners is that S.72 of the Travancore Cochin Motor Vehicles Act, 1125, effected an implied repeal of S.286 & 287 of the Travancore District Municipalities Act 1116, in so far as they related to motor vehicles, and that Exts. P & R should be consi