Permit is inheritable property; does not lapse on holder's death if renewal applied timely before expiry, despite transfer delays.

JUDGMENT :

K. KUMARESH BABU, J.

The Civil Revision Petition in C.R.P.No.3029 of 2021 is against the rejection of renewal of permit of a stage carriage plying on the route Pollachi and Dharapuram, with independent shuttle trips between Pollachi and Coimbatore.

2. The writ petitions in W.P.Nos.16648 and 19015 of 2019 were filed by the sons of the deceased permit holder for transfer of permit of the said stage carriage in their names.

3. For better understanding, the parties are referred to on the basis of the rank in the civil revision petition.

4. A lis had arisen between the parties, and the second respondent had instituted a suit for partition, wherein a preliminary decree had been passed. In respect of the bus and its permit, the second respondent had been held to be entitled to 1/7th share in the bus together with the permit and also for accounts and income with regard to his 1/7th share.

5. Appeal suits have been filed both by the second respondent and the father of the petitioner in appeal suits in A.S. Nos.1046 and 1075 of 2012, in which an interim order, restraining passing a final decree alone had been made.

6. In the interregnum, the permit holder, namely the father of the petitioner and the second respondent, had died, and applications had been taken out for renewal of permit and also for transfer of permit in their names. The appeal suits are still pending adjudication before this Court.

7. A perusal of the order passed by the Regional Transport Authority, refusing to renew the permit would show that both the petitioner and the second respondent had taken out applications for renewal of permit, and the Regional Transport Authority had rejected their request and directed them to stop plying the vehicle on the route with immediate effect.

8. Aggrieved by the same, the petitioner alone had filed an appeal before the State Transport Appellate Tribunal, which was also contested by the second respondent. The second respondent had not independently challenged the rejection of his renewal application.

9. On a perusal of the order passed by the Regional Transport Authority, it would indicate that, as the final decree had not been passed in the partition suit, and no specific relief had been specifically granted in favour of the respective parties, and as the parties were not willing to come to an amicable settlement and the dispute has not been settled between the parties, the Authority had rejected their claim.

10. On the other hand, the Appellate Tribunal, which order is impugned herein, had gone a step ahead and had held that as the parties had not applied for transfer of permit within a period of three months from the date of death of the deceased permit holder, the permit had expired, and therefore, the permit which had expired in the year 2018 on the death of the deceased permit holder cannot be sought to be renewed on the basis of an application made after three years, and hence rejected the claim of the revision petitioner.

11. It is an admitted fact that the permit was valid from 16.03.2016 till 15.03.2021, and applications had been made by both the parties in the month of February 2021, i.e., more than 15 days prior to the expiry of permit as mandated under the Motor Vehicles Act.

12. As already found, a preliminary decree had been passed in favour of the second respondent with regard to 1/7th share in the permit, which would mean that the remaining 6/7th share is vested with the permit holder, the petitioner, and other legal heirs of the deceased permit holder.

13. It is also brought on record that even during the pendency of the suit, the deceased permit holder had bequeathed the permit in favour of the petitioner. It is for the petitioner to work out his rights under the Will in the manner known to law, as the permit had become contentious permit with regard to its inheritance, as permit is a property, which can be transferred and inherited.

14. The finding of the Tribunal that the permit dies on the death of the permit holder