Lower Assam Inter District Stage Carriage Bus Owners Association v. The State of Assam and 16 Ors

ORDER Date : 25.10.2024

Heard Mr. H. Das, learned counsel for the petitioner; Mr. R.B. Goswami, learned counsel representing Ms. M.D. Bora, learned Standing Counsel, Transport Department for the respondent nos. 1, 14 – 16; and Mr. B.J. Talukdar, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. P.K. Medhi, learned counsel for the respondent nos. 2 – 13.

¶2The petitioner Association viz. M/s Lower Assam Inter-District Stage Carriage Bus Owners Association, Goalpara is an Association registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 vide Certificate of Registration bearing no. 604 of 1991-1992 dated 29.06.1991. The Association has about 54 members, who are owners of buses which operate as stage carriages having permits for different routes within the North-Eastern States.

¶3The Association has approached by this writ petition with a grievance that on a number of occasions, their buses were requisitioned by the State respondent authorities and the State respondent authorities owed an amount of Rs. 14,03,525/- to a number of members of the petitioner Association against requisition of their buses. The writ petition is preferred seeking a writ in the nature of mandamus to the respondent authorities for disbursal of the amount of Rs. 14,03,525/- against the bills of requisitions submitted by the members of the Association. Affidavits-in-opposition have been filed by the respondent no. 5 and the respondent no. 7.

¶4After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, it has emerged that the Association Page No. 4/4 has preferred seeking disbursal of the amount of Rs. 14,03,525/-, owed towards requisition of the buses belonging to a number of members of the petitioner Association. The members of the petitioner Association had claimed to have owed different amounts from different party-respondents. It, thus, appears that a number of causes of action have been clubbed together to prefer the instant writ petition. If the members of the petitioner Association have claims against different respondent authorities, the members of the petitioner Association are at liberty to prefer individual representations in respect of their claim amount before the appropriate and respective respondent authorities and in the event they are aggrieved by any decision on the part of the appropriate and respective respondent authorities, they are also at liberty to recourse to appropriate legal remedy.

¶5As the causes of action involved in this writ petition are difficult to be separated and to be decided, this Court is of the considered view that the writ petition in the present form is not maintainable to be entertained. It is ordered accordingly. It is observed that non-entertainment of the writ petition in the present form would not be a bar for the members of the petitioner Association to agitate their respective grievance individually before the appropriate authority/forum. There shall, however, be no order as to cost.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.o1/4 GAHC010042812023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/1180/2023o LOWERoASSAMoINTERoDISTRICToSTAGEoCARRIAGEoBUSoOWNERSo ASSOCIATIONo GOALPARA,oASSAM,oREPRESENTEDoBYoITSoGENERALoSECRETARYoSRIo ANIRUDHAoDAS,oS/O-oLATEoAMBIKAoDAS,oR/O-oVILL.-oBAMUNPARA,o GOALPARAoTOWN,oP.O.oANDoDIST.oGOALPARA. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo16oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVT.o OFoASSAM,oTRANSPORToDEPARTMENT,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI-6. 2:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oKAMRUPo(METRO) oHENGRABARI oGUWAHATI-36. 3:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oAMINGAON oGUWAHATI-781039. 4:THEoCOMMISSIONERoOFoPOLICE oCITY oGUWAHATI. 5:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE oKAMRUP(R) oGUWAHATI. 6:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oGOALPARA oPIN-o783101. 7:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE PageoNo.o2/4 oGOALPARA oASSAM oPIN-o783101. 8:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oDHUBRI oASSAM 9:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE oDHUBRI oASSAM 10:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oBONGAIGAON oASSAM 11:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE oBONGAIGAON oASSAM 12:THEoDEPUTYoCOMMISSIONER oBARPETA oASSAM 13:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE oBARPETA oASSAM 14:THEoDISTRICToTRANSPORToOFFICER oGOALPARA oDIST.oGOALPARA oASSAM oPIN-o783101. 15:THEoDISTRICToTRANSPORToOFFICER oKAMRUPoRURAL oDIST.oKAMRUP(R) oASSAM 16:THEoDISTRICToTRANSPORToOFFICER oKAMRUPoMETRO oKAMRUP(M) oASSAM 17:MONOJoCHOUDHURY oDTO oGOALPARA oDIST.oGOALPARA Page No. 3/4 ASSAM PIN- 783101 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR H DAS, MR. B C DEKA,D BARUAH Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, SC, TRANSPORT BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY