JUDGMENT :

The petitioner who operates contract carriage in pursuance of the contract carriage permit issued under Section 74 of the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘MV Act’) has filed this writ petition for a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents 3 to 8 to take all appropriate and necessary action to ensure that the stage carriages of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) are not operated as contract carriages without obtaining special permits under Section 88(8) of the MV Act and without making provision for substitute vehicles on the routes covered by the regular stage carriage permits.

2. The petitioner, in fact, is aggrieved by ‘tour packages’ operated by KSRTC by using its stage carriages. The contentions on behalf of the petitioner are that a stage carriage having a stage carriage permit cannot be operated as a contract carriage. In fact, the tour package operations by the KSRTC are nothing but the operation of contract carriage. Such packages cannot be operated using stage carriages for which stage carriage permits under the MV Act have been issued unless special permits are applied for and issued t