Point of Law: Section 86(1)(D) of Motor Vehicles Act which reads as cancellation and suspension of permits.

JUDGMENT :

MEHTA, J.

1. The instant bunch of writ petitions filed by the petitioner M/s. Srinath Travels Agency under Article 226 of the Constitution of India involves identical controversy and thus, the same are being decided by this common order.

2. Basic facts relevant and essential for disposal of these writ petitions are being referred from Writ Petition No.1570/2017 because the complete set of relevant documents and pleadings are available in this file.

3. The petitioner herein is engaged in the transport business and owns private transport vehicles viz. buses. A service order dated 11.05.2016 was issued to the petitioner by the company Hindustan Zinc Limited for a period of four years commencing from 11.05.2016 to 10.05.2020. By virtue of this service order, the petitioner was engaged to deploy 23 vehicles at different locations of Hindustan Zinc Limited so as to ferry its employees to and fro from the factory and office premises. On receiving the service order, the petitioner submitted applications to the Road Transport Department in the prescribed form under Section 76 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for obtaining “private service vehicle” permits. These applications were accompanied with the service order dated 11.05.2016. The RTA, Udaipur scrutinized the applications and granted 23 “private service vehicle” permits to the petitioner on different dates between 01.09.2016 to 29.11.2016. Below Point No.6 relating to the specification and number of persons permitted to be carried, it was noted that the persons to be carried would be Hindustan Zinc Limited employed as per the service order. The petitioner deposited the road tax for 23 vehicles covered under the permits period upto March 2017 and started plying the vehicles in the capacity of representative, agent and agency of Hindustan Zinc Limited as per the terms and conditions of the service order.

It is stated that a news item came to be published in the ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ newspaper edition dated 20.01.2017 alleging inter alia that huge loss of revenue had been caused to the transport department on account of collusion between the department officials, Hindustan Zinc Limited and the petitioner. Pursuant to this reporting, the Anti Corruption Bureau officials seized relevant documents from the office of the RTA Udaipur and criminal cases came to be registered. Immediately thereafter, the DTO, Udaipur (Rajsamand) issued notice dated 20.01.2017 to the petitioner requiring it to show cause as to why, the “private vehicle service” permits granted to it in the garb of the service order may not be suspended/cancelled as the same were in violation of Section 86 of the Motor Vehicles Act. On the basis of the enquiry conducted by department, the DTO proceeded to pass the order dated 25.01.2017 whereby, all 23 permits, referred to above, granted to the petitioner were suspended assigning the following reasons:

i=koyh esa miyC/k lk{;ksa] vkosnu i= ds lkFk izLrqr nLrkostksa ,ao ftyk ifjogu vf/kdkjh] mn;iqj ,oa bl dk;kZy; ds izorZu dfeZ;ksa }kjk izdj.k ls lacaf/kr okguksa dh tkWp djus dh izfdz;k esa ik;s x;s lk{;ksa dk eksVj;ku vf/kfu;e] 1988 dh /kkjk 2 ¼35½ rFkk /kkjk 2 ¼7½ dk voyksdu djus ij] eSa bl fu.kZ; ij igWqapk gwWa fd lacaf/kr QeZ }kjk mDrkuqlkj mYysf[kr Øekad 1 ls 23 rd izkIr futh lsok ;ku ds vuqKki=ksa dk mi;ksx ^^lafonk;ku** ds :i esa ;g fl) djrk gS fd ftl mn~ns'; ds fy, vuqKki= izkIr fd;k tkuk Fkk og vuqKki=/kkjh }kjk Nqik;k x;kA ;g d`R; eksVj;ku vf/kfu;e] 1988 dh /kkjk 86 ¼1½¼Mh½ dh Js.kh esa vkrk gS tks vuqKk/kkjh ds fo:) bl izko/kku ds rgr dk;Zokgh djus ds fy, Ik;kZIr lk{; gSA

vr% eSa uSu flag lksढ+k] ftyk ifjogu ,oa vfrfjDr lfpo] izknsf'kd ifjogu izkf/kdkj mn;iqj eSllZ JhukFk VsoYlZ ,tsUlh] ukFk}kjk] jktleUn dks bl dk;kZy; }kjk tkjh fuEu vuqKki= dks eksVj;ku vf/kfu;e] 1988 dh /kkjk 86 ds vUrxZr iznRr 'kfDr;ksa dk iz;ksx djrs gq, rRdky izHkko ls fuyafcr djrk gWwaA

The DTO observed in the order dated 25.01.2017 that the vehicles were being used as contract carriages, how