ORDER
1. The petitioners’ learned Advocate has filed a representative petition on behalf of the Gram Panchayat wherein he has contended that the original permit that was granted has been drastically altered within a period of hardly six or seven months and that it has virtually been converted into an inter-State permit. The submission proceeds on the footing that when the permit was granted, the authority considered the public interest and he contends that as a result of the deviation the present petitioners are prejudiced because there are only two services on that road and with the withdrawal of this service in the area that the petitioners, belong to goes very much against the interest of the travelling public. He has drawn my attention in particular to the manner in which the deviation was applied for and the ground given is that the area passes through a reserve forest and the second ground is that the persons from Tamihiad visit some areas in this State and therefore this service should be deviated- In the course of the deviation, a small part of the route has been curtailed and it is this aspect of the matter that has been objected to.
2. The learned Government Advocate has pointed out that this is a dispute on facts apart from which that the petitioners have a remedy by way of a revision to the Tribunal and he submits therefore that this is not a case in which the extraordinary jurisdiction of the High Court can be invoked. The petitioners, learned Advocate submits that the revision is not an expeditious remedy, that the revisions take a very long time and that it is for this reason that the petitioners have approached the High Court.
3. Assuming that the petitioners have a grievance, I see no ground on which they can be permitted to bypass the alternate remedy available. Since it has been pointed out to me that the Tribunal is heavily overburdened and that the revisions take a long time to be disposed off, in the facts and circumstances of this case, I consider that it would be expedient to direct the Tribunal to dispose off the proceeding within an outer limit of two months provided the petitioners approach the tribunal within a period of ten days from today. The Tribunal shall carefully examine all aspects of the matter particularly the time factqr namely that within a short period of the original permit having been issued, a major deviation has been made and whether, this is really within the ambit, scope and spirit of the issuance of the earlier permit. The question of the public interest shall also be taken into account particularly the question as to whether it is the basic duty of those operating the services in this State to cater first to the requirements of the passengers of this State or whether they should be more bothered about catering to the needs of the passengers of the adjoining State. The Tribunal shall consider all aspects of the matter if a revision is filed before it and dispose off the matter according to merits. With these directions, writ petition to stand disposed off.
