'Tourism Major Source Of Revenue In Kerala': High Court Dismisses Plea Against KSRTC Tour Packages, Says Its Buses Have Special Area Permits

“It is not in dispute that the KSRTC buses which are employed for conducting the tour packages had special area permits under the scheme. The petitioner cannot be granted a permit under the scheme for the services for which the scheme has been promulgated, and the exclusive right is of the KSRTC to offer special services under the scheme. Under the area permit, the KSRTC employs its buses for conducting the tour packages. The area permits are special permits as provided under subsection (8) of Section 88 of the MV Act.”

The petitioner alleged that KSRTC buses has stage carriage permit and they cannot conduct tour package operations without obtaining special permits under Section 88(2) of the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act, 1988.

The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that motor vehicles issued with a stage carriage permit cannot be operated as a contract carriage. It was contended that the tour packages offered by KSRTC were contract carriage services and they had no permit to offer such services. It was also argued that fare charged by KSRTC for operating tour packages were not the fares notified by the state government under the MV Act and thus such tour packages cannot be said to be stage carriages. It was also argued that KSRTC has stage carriage permit and they cannot be used for conducting tour operations.

The Counsel for the respondents contended that the writ petition was not maintainable under Section 226 of the Constitution as the petitioner has not proved violation of any legal or fundamental rights. It was submitted before the Court that the state government under the powers vested by Section 99 read with Section 100 of the MV Act issued a superclass scheme for the KSRTC by notification dated July 16, 2013. It was submitted that the superclass scheme includes fast passenger service, super deluxe service, super express service, super-fast service and luxury service which were to be exclusively run and operated by the KSRTC. It was also argued that the superclass scheme was an area scheme and the whole state would come under the scheme as an area. It was submitted that as per Clause (18) of the superclass scheme, KSRTC has the exclusive right to operate any class of service other than ordinary service in the State. It was also argued that under the superclass scheme, KSRTC can conduct special trips also.

The Court examined the clauses present in the superclass scheme as well as the provisions of the MV Act and Rules thereunder. It noted that Section 88 (3) of the MV Act provides that permit can be granted by State Transport Authority for use of carriages outside permissible limits for public convenience. The Court further noted that as per Section 88 (9), the State Transport Authority can also grant permits for operation of tourist vehicles.

The Court further held that state government has formulated superclass scheme in furtherance of public interest under the powers granted to it by the MV Act.

“Section 99, read with Section 100, empowers the State Government to formulate a scheme in the public interest, where road transport services in general or any particular class of such service in any area or route should be run and operated by the State Transport Undertaking, whether to the exclusion, complete or partial, of other persons. The scheme in Ext.R1(a) has been formulated by the State Government in the exercise of its powers vested in Section 100, read with Section 99 of the MV Act.”

The Court noted that tourism is one of the major sources of revenue and that the government has taken various measures for promoting tourism in Kerala. It held that for promoting tourism, the state government had started budget tour packages by KSRTC for providing access to pristine tourist locations in Kerala. The Court noted that as per the superclass scheme and under the provisions of the MV Act, the KSRTC buses have exclusive right to offer special services.

"In order to provide easy access to the pristine tourist locations in the State, the KSRTC has announced budget tour packages and has set the target of 1000 package tours to pristine locations during the April-May summer vacation. It was also said that the KSRTC may hire tourist buses if needed to achieve its target ‘Mission 1000’ initiative."

On the above observations, the Court dismissed the writ petition and held that KSRTC buses can conduct special tour packages under the superclass scheme as it has special area permits to conduct operations throughout the state. The Court also found that there was no infringement of legal or fundamental rights of the petitioner.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Advocate P.Deepak and Nazrin Banu

Counsel for the respondents: Advocate P.C.Chacko, Government Pleader Joby Joseph

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Ker) 599

Case title: Justin O.S v The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation

Case number: WP(C) NO. 28838 OF 2023

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