GUPTA, J.—There was a bus route from Borawar to Pushkar (hereinafter referred to as the route) about 90 Kilometers in length, which lay partly in Jodhpur Region and partly in the Jaipur Region of the State of Rajasthan. The operators of the route appear to have submitted an application for the extension of the route from Pushkar to Ajmer, but the State Transport Authority, Jaipur (hereinafter referred to as the S. T. A.) rejected the aforesaid application by its resolution dated February 5, 1973 and did not grant the desired extension. The petitioner No. 1 is the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat, Baser in Nagaur district, while the petitioner No. 2 is the Sarpanch of Gram Panchayat, Kadel in Ajmer district. The two petitioners, acting on behalf of the inhabitants of the area and the Panchayats of which they were Sarpanchs, some time later submitted a representation to the S. T. A. that the route in question should be extended upto Ajmer so as to make available the inhabitants of the area a direct bus service for reaching Ajmer and thereby avoid unnecessary change of buses at Pushkar. The S.T.A. then got a survey conducted in the matter and the survey report favoured the grant of an extension in the interest of the travelling public. The S.T.A. thereupon gave notices to the existing operators of the route under Section 48 (3) (xxi) of the Motor Vehicles Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) to show cause as to why the route of their permits be not varied by inclusion of the portion of the route from Pushkar to Ajmer, which is only about 10 Kilometers in length. Bachhraj Singh respondent No. 3, v ho is an existing operator of Makrana-Ajmer route through a different via, objected to the grant of extension of the route upto Ajmer. It may be mentioned here that Makrana-Ajmer route over-laps the route from Makrana to Bhadasia and thereafter it takes a turn and passes over a different course via Harsor for reaching Ajmer. The S. T. A. did not agree with the contentions raised on behalf of the objector, Bachhraj Singh and held that the extension of the route upto Ajmer would serve public interest, as it would remove the hardship of the passengers going from different places on the route to Ajmer. Thus, in view of the persistent demand of the inhabitants of the area, the route was extended upto Ajmer by the resolution of the S. T. A. dated August 30, 1973. Bachhraj Singh filed an appeal before the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, Rajasthan, Jaipur (hereinafter briefly referred to as the S. T. A. T.) against the aforesaid resolution of the S.T.A. dated August 30, 1973. Initially the petitioners were not made parties to the appeal before the S. T. A. T., but on their application, the S. T. A. T. directed the appellant Bachhraj Singh by its order dated November 14, 1973 to add the petitioners as parties to the appeal, representing the Gram Panchayats Baser and Kadel. The petitioners were accordingly added as parties to the appeal and after hearing all the parties concerned, the S. T. A. T. allowed the appeal by its order dated December 10, 1973 on the sole ground that the extension granted by the S. T. A. under Section 48 (3) (xxi) of the Act was without jurisdiction, as a variation of the route of a permit by changing one of the terminii thereof could be directed only under Section 57 (8) of the Act and not under Section 48 (4) (xxi) of the Act. According to the S. T. A. T., under Section 48 (3) (xxi) of the Act only a diversion of the route between the two terminii fixed for the original route could be permitted and an extension beyond any one of the two terminii was outside the scope of the provisions of Section 48(3) (xxi) of the Act.

2. The two petitioners have challenged the aforesaid order of the S.T.A.T. dated December 10, 1973 by means of the present writ petition and it is urged by Mr. Chhangani on their behalf that the view regarding the relevant provisions of the Act taken by the S. T. A. T. was apparently erroneous, as the

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