IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE Present:

The Hon’ble Justice Rai Chattopadhyay WPA 3679 of 2024 Narottam Majumder -vs-

The State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 2252 of 2024 (CAN 1/2024, CAN 2/2025)

Atanu Ghosh -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 2280 of 2024 Sk Ali Naser -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 2285 of 2024 Sk. Amir Ali -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 23830 of 2024 Sk. Jahiruddin & Ors.

-vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 3274 of 2024 Mahadeb Ghosh -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 3278 of 2024 Rakesh Panja -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 3283 of 2024 Pradip Banerjee -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 3720 of 2024 Akshay Kr. Rana -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

With WPA 4146 of 2024 Uttam Ash -vs-

State of West Bengal & Ors.

For the Petitioners : Mr. Sanat Kr. Roy : Mr. Baidurya Ghosal (In WPA 2252/2024, WPA 2280/2024, WPA 2285/2024, WPA 23830/2024, WPA 3720/2024 &

WPA 4146/2024)

: Mr. Dilip Kumar Samanta : Mr. Biswapriya Samanta : Mr. S. Palit : Mr. Akash Kr. Chakrabarty (In WPA

3274/2024, WPA 3278/2024, WPA

3283/2024)

:

For the added party respondent Mr. Arabinda Chatterjee : Ms. Kakali Dutta :

For the State Mr. Amal Kr. Sen, Ld. A.G.P.

: Mr. Lal Mohan Basu (In WPA

2252/2024, WPA

23830/2024 &

WPA 3283/2024 : Mr. Ayan Banerjee : Mr. Sanjay Mukherjee (In WPA

4146/2024)

Heard on : 07/07/2025 Judgment on : 25/07/2025 Rai Chattopadhyay, J. :-

(1) The petitioners in this bunch of writ petitions are the stage carriage operators, who have been issued permit by the Regional Transport Authority, Burdwan and ply their vehicles within the district, including the route spreading through the Burdwan Town. A notification issued by the District Magistrate Burdwan is pertinent in this case. The same is dated June 6, 2014. The said notification speaks of decision of a meeting held on June 2, 2014, in presence of the Minister-in-Charge and the Chairperson BDA, the Chairman Burdwan Municipality and all bus-owner’s associations. The unanimous decision was that on and from June 15, 2014, no buses will ply through old Grand Trank Road, inside the Burdwan town, except the ‘Town Service’ and the ‘School Buses’. Hence, in exercise of power conferred under section 96(2)(xxii) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, read with Rule 182 of the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, the District Magistrate directs in the said notification dated June 6, 2014, „that all buses plying through the Burdwan Town, shall in stead of their present movement status, hence forth operate from Nawabhat and Alisha bus stand respectively‟. All previous orders were superseded and directions in the said notification dated June 6, 2014 have been made effective from June 15, 2014.

(2) The petitioner’s case specifically rests on the provisions made and mentioned in the 9^th paragraph of the said notification, which provides that „These buses shall henceforth utilize the stands at Nawabhat and Alisha, depending on their route permits, Long Route buses with permits issued by the State Transport Authority, West Bengal and Regional Transport Authorities (other than Burdwan) including SBSTC buses shall also come under the purview of this notification. ………‟ . According to the petitioners there has been an exception curved out from the general provisions of the notification that Nawabhat and Alisha bus stands have been provided for all, other than the transport, permit for which has been issued by the Regional Transport Authority, Burdwan. They claim that they fall within the said exception clause as their respective permits have been issued by the Regional Transport Authority, Burdwan.

(3) It is also pertinent here to mention the new scheme of movement of buses and the arrangement of stands, as provided in the said notification, which is extracted bellow:

“In the new scheme of movement of buses, the arrangement stands as follows :-

a) All buses entering into and leaving from Burdwan, from various routes like Durgapur,