Rule 178 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 is directory, allowing for reasonable explanations for delays in producing vehicle records for permit transfer.

JUDGMENT :

Gopinath P., J.

The petitioner purchased a vehicle bearing registration No.KL-08-Z-9855, and petitioner, along with the previous owner of the vehicle, filed a joint application for transfer of the permit, which has been issued in respect of the said vehicle, before the 1st respondent. The 1st respondent, in its meeting held on 12-07-2023, allowed the transfer of permit as is evident from Ext.P2. There were certain civil proceedings numbered as O.S.No.790/2023 on the file of the Munsiff Court, Kodungallur, and the vehicle bearing registration No.KL-08-Z-9855 was also subject matter of the proceedings before the said Court. According to the petitioner, owing to the civil proceedings, the petitioner was unable to produce the original documents in relation to the vehicle, and consequently, the petitioner could not surrender the records of the vehicle within the time contemplated by Rule 178 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 (hereinafter referred to as the 1989 Rules'). The suit has now been compromised. The compromise decree dated 08-11-2024 is on record as Ext.P3. The petitioner is before this Court being aggrieved by the fact that when the petitioner produced the records of the vehicle before the 2nd respondent for endorsement of the transfer of permit, the 2nd respondent refused to endorse the transfer of permit on the ground that the petitioner has not produced the vehicle within the time specified in Rule 178 of the 1989 Rules.

2. Sri. Sajeev Kumar K. Gopal, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, would submit that Rule 178 of the 1989 Rules does not contemplate any outer time limit within which the records of the vehicle have to be produced, once the application for transfer of permit has been allowed by the Regional Transport Authority. It is submitted that the provision requiring the production of records within seven days can be treated only as directory and not mandatory, especially when no consequence of non-production is contemplated by the rule. It is submitted that in such circumstances, the failure of the 2nd respondent to make necessary endorsements is clearly illegal and unsustainable in law.

3. Sri. Sreejith V.S., the learned Government Pleader, referred to the provisions of Rule 178 of the 1989 Rules and submits that when a permit is ordered to be transferred on joint application, the fact of such transfer has to be immediately endorsed on the permit and other records of the vehicle, and that is why the 1989 Rules require the records of the vehicle to be produced within seven days. It is submitted that in the facts and circumstances of this case, the Regional Transport Authority had permitted the transfer as early as in the month of July, 2023, and the petitioner had admittedly approached the 2nd respondent with the records of the vehicle only after about 14 months. It is submitted that in such circumstances, the question of transfer has to be again considered by the Regional Transport Authority, and no transfer of permit can be endorsed on the basis of the decision taken by the Regional Transport Authority originally on 12-07-2023.

4. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader, I am of the view that in the facts and circumstances of the case and in the context of Rule 178 of the 1989 Rules, when there is a reasonable explanation for the delay in producing the records of the vehicle, the delay in the production of records need not necessarily lead to a cancellation of the decision taken by the Regional Transport Authority on 12-07-2023 to permit the transfer. It is clear from the facts narrated above that there were certain civil disputes, which finally ended in a compromise only in the month of November, 2024, and immediately thereafter, the petitioner produced the records of the vehicle for making the necessary endorsements on the records of the vehicle. The provisions of Rule 178 of the 1989 Rules, though requiring the production of