(1) No person shall keep or let for hire any public conveyance without a licence granted by the Commissioner of Police in this behalf.
(1) Such licences shall remain in force for the licensing year, unless sooner determined under the provisions of this Act, and shall be renewable.
1[(1A) The Commissioner of Police may refuse to grant licences for any class of vehicles if, in his opinion, it is undesirable that such vehicles should be used, as public conveyances. The Commissioner of Police may, on the same ground, refuse to renew, and may, at any time, cancel the licences already granted for such vehicles. On such cancellation the licensee shall be granted out of the fees paid by him for the licence a refund of a sum equal to the amount of fees payable for the unexpired portion of the licence calculated in proportion to the amount paid for the full period of the licence.]
1[5A. Special licensing provisions in respect of cycle rickshaws, in certain areas.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in sections 3, 4, 5 and 36, in the City of Nagpur as constituted under the City of Nagpur Corporation Act, 1948 (C. P. and Berar II of 1950), and in such other areas as may be notified in this behalf by the Commissioner from time to time under section 36, being areas where sections 3, 4 and 5 extend or have been extended under section 36, no licence for keeping or letting for hire any cycle-rickshaw shall, after the commencement of the Bombay Public Conveyances (Amendment) Act, 1979 (Mah. XIII of 1979), be granted or renewed by the Commissioner of Police, unless the applicant-
(1) When granting or renewing a licence for a public conveyance, and at other times when necessary, the Commissioner of Police shall cause the particulars required by clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (2) of section 3 to be painted or otherwise clearly inscribed upon the conveyance.
(1) For the grant of a licence for a public conveyance a fee shall be charged at such rate as the Commissioner of Police shall prescribe.
(1) No horse shall be used for drawing a public conveyance except under a licence granted by the Commissioner of Police in respect of such horse.
When granting a licence for a horse the Commissioner of Police 1[may, if he thinks it necessary] brand such horse on the hoof in such manner that it may be easily identified.
(1) The Commissioner of Police may refuse to grant, to renew, and may at any time suspend, a licence for a horse if in his opinion such horse is in any way unfit for use in a public conveyance.
(1) No person shall act as driver of public conveyance without a licence granted by the Commissioner of Police in this behalf.
(1) The Commissioner of Police may refuse to grant a licence to a driver if in his opinion such driver 1[is not competent and careful or] is unfit on account of youth, infirmity, bad character or any other reason to pursue the occupation of driver of a public conveyance.
(1) When granting a licence to a driver the Commissioner of Police shall provide him with a metal badge bearing the number of the licence.
(1) For the grant of a licence to a driver a fee shall be charged at such rate as the Commissioner of Police shall prescribe.
Every licence which has been suspended or cancelled shall be returned by the licensee to the Commissioner of Police within twenty-four hours after the suspension or cancellation thereof.
Whenever a licensee shall change his residence he shall within one week thereafter give notice thereof in writing signed by himself to the Commissioner of Police.
1[16A. Licensee to report name of person left in charge of conveyance during his absence.- Whenever the licensee of a public conveyance shall be absent from the 2[Greater Bombay] for a period exceeding fifteen days he shall, if the public conveyance is used for the purpose of plying for hire, give, previous to his departure, notice thereof in writing signed by himself to the Commissioner of Police. Such notice shall state the name of the person left in charge of the public conveyance. Such person shall, until the return of the licensee, perform all the duties of a licensee of a public conveyance and be liable to all the penalties to which such licensee is liable under this Act.]
Every licensee of a public conveyance or horse shall produce such conveyance or horse for inspection whenever the Commissioner of Police shall require him to do so.
The Commissioner of Police shall, subject to the conditions of previous publication and the previous sanction of the 1[ 2[State] Government], fix the legal rates of fares for public conveyances.
The Commissioner of Police shall appoint stands or places, at which alone public conveyances may stand to ply for hire 1[and may, at any time, abolish any such stand or place.]
(1) Every driver of a public conveyance shall have with him when pursuing his occupation as driver the licence granted to him under section 11 of this Act and a clean and legible list, in English and such vernacular language or languages as the Commissioner of Police may direct, bearing the name in full of the licensee of the conveyance and showing the rates of fares fixed for the time being for the hire of the conveyance, with an abstract of the law relating to public conveyances.
Lists of the fares fixed for public conveyances, as for the time being in force, together with the abstract referred to in the preceding section, shall be prepared by the Commissioner of Police and sold to the public at a reasonable price.
1[(1)] Any person who shall-
Any licensee of a public conveyance who shall without sufficient reason fail to cause such conveyance to ply for hire when required to do so by a police officer and any driver of a public conveyance who shall without sufficient reason fail duly to pursue his occupation when required to do so by a police officer, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.
Any licensee of a public conveyance who shall, when the same is used for the purpose of a public conveyance permit any person to act as driver thereof other than a driver duly licensed under this Act, or who shall, when such conveyance is used for the purpose aforesaid, permit the same to be drawn by a horse other than a horse for which a licence is in force under this Act, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty rupees.
Whoever, being the licensee of a public conveyance or horse, shall fail to produce such conveyance or horse for inspection when required to do so by the Commissioner of Police shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty rupees.
(1) Whoever shall act as driver of a public conveyance without a driver's licence granted by the Commissioner of Police in this behalf and for the time being in force, or 1[without a badge, if he has received a badge from the Commissioner of Police, or, when acting as such driver, shall fail to wear a badge so received] on a conspicuous part of his dress; and
Any licensee-
Any person using a public conveyance who shall wilfully or negligently injure the same shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty rupees, and shall also pay the owner of such conveyance such compensation as the Magistrate may direct, and such compensation shall be leviable as a fine.
The driver of any public conveyance who shall by negligence or misconduct, cause any hurt or damage shall, in addition to any punishment to which he may be liable by law, pay the complainant such reasonable compensation as the Magistrate may direct, and such compensation shall be leviable as a fine.
Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person who has committed any offence under this Act, and may seize and detain any conveyance or horse in relation to which such offence has been committed.
(1) In case of any dispute between the hirer and driver of a public conveyance, either party may require the other to proceed forthwith to the nearest Magistrate's Court, where the dispute shall be determined in a summary manner by the Magistrate then sitting.
(1) When a complaint is made before a Magistrate against a driver of a public conveyance under this Act, the Magistrate may, if the driver fails to appear, summon the licensee of such conveyance to appear and produce the driver.
If any person who has hired a public conveyance refuses to pay the legal fare thereof, the Magistrate may order payment of such fare and also of reasonable compensation for loss of time; such fare and compensation shall be leviable as a fine.
(1) All property left in any public conveyance shall be forthwith deposited by the licensee or driver of such conveyance at the nearest police station.
1[(1) The Commissioner of Police, subject to the condition of previous publication, may make rules not inconsistent with this Act,-
(1) The 1[Commissioner] 2* * * * may by notification in the 3[Official Gazette] extend this Act or any specified provisions thereof to any area within 4[his] 5* * jurisdiction from a date to be stated in such notification.
1[37. Power to apply or adapt certain provisions to vehicles not used for the purpose of plying for hire.- The 2[ 3[State] Government], or any area to which this Act or any specified provisions thereof have been extended under section 36 the 4[Commissioner] 5* * * * * * * * may, by notification in the 6[Official Gazette], apply or adapt all or any of the provisions of this Act, except those which relate to plying for hire, or any part of any such provision, to vehicles or to any class of vehicles which are kept, or ordinarily let for hire, but which are not used for the purpose of plying for hire.
All powers conferred by this Act may be exercised from time to time as occasion requires.
1[39. Repeal and saving.- On the commencement of the Bombay Public Conveyances (Unification and Amendment) Act, 1958 (Bom. LXXXVI of 1958), the following Acts, that is to say,-