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V. Krishnamurthy v. Ceded District Auto Transport Co. Ltd.
Concise Analytical Summary of the Opinion (Satyanarayana Rao, J.)
Factual and Procedural Background
The present Letters Patent Appeal challenges the judgment of Subba Rao J., who set aside orders of the Government and of the Central Road Traffic Board and allowed Writ Petition No. 282 of 1951 to quash those orders. The narrow question before both the learned Judge and this Court was whether there was a right of appeal to the Central Road Traffic Board against a Regional Transport Authority (RTA) order dated 31 August 1950, which refused the appellants' application to extend their bus route from Atmakur to Velgode.
Relevant facts as stated in the opinion:
- Two appellants had been operating buses on the Kurnool–Atmakur route since 1944 under permits issued by the Regional Transport Authority.
- In 1949 the RTA decided to consider extending the route to Velgode. Applications were filed by the first respondent and by the appellants.
- On 28 June 1950 the RTA granted a permit to the first respondent to run to Velgode. The appellants did not appeal that grant.
- The RTA did not dispose of the appellants' application until 31 August 1950, when it rejected the appellants' application to extend their route.
- The appellants appealed the 31 August 1950 order to the Central Road Traffic Board. The first respondent objected that the appeal was incompetent; the Central Board overruled that objection, set aside the RTA order and granted permits to the appellants to Velgode.
- The first respondent sought revision to the Government unsuccessfully, and ultimately filed a writ petition. Subba Rao J. allowed the writ petition, holding the appeal to the Central Board incompetent and treating the Central Board's and Government's orders as without jurisdiction.
- The appellants brought the present Letters Patent Appeal against Subba Rao J.'s judgment challenging the finding that the appeal was incompetent.
Legal Issues Presented
- Whether an appeal lay to the Central Road Traffic Board against the Regional Transport Authority's order dated 31 August 1950 refusing the appellants' application to extend their bus route to Velgode.
- Whether clauses (a) or (b) of Section 64 of the Motor Vehicles Act (specifically the parts concerning "refusal ... to grant a permit" and being "aggrieved by ... variation of the conditions") afford the appellants a right of appeal in the present circumstances.
- Whether Rule 208 of the rules made under Section 68 (which directs the Transport Authority to treat certain variation applications "as if it were an application for a permit") and the rule-making power under Section 68 can be construed to confer, expressly or implicitly, a right of appeal against refusal to vary permit conditions.
- Whether principles of statutory construction or analogies from procedural rules (and judicial decisions on related procedural appeals) can be invoked to read in a right of appeal where the Act's express provisions do not provide one.
Arguments of the Parties
Appellants' Arguments (as presented by Mr. Bhashyam)
- The appellants relied upon clauses (a) and (b) of Section 64 of the Motor Vehicles Act: they argued that the refusal to allow extension should be treated as a "refusal ... to grant a permit" or as leaving them "aggrieved by the condition attached to the permit" and therefore appealable under S.64(a) (second part) or S.64(b).
- They further relied on Rule 208 (made under the rule-making power in S.68) and submitted that the application should be treated "as if it were an application for a permit" (per R.208(b)); therefore the refusal to grant the variation should be regarded as a refusal to grant a permit and be appealable under S.64.
- In support of the contention that a refusal to vary carries with it an appeal, counsel invoked analogies from case law where a power to do a thing was held to carry with it ancillary powers (e.g., the power to appoint a receiver was held to include the power to remove one).
Respondent / Government Arguments (as reflected in the opinion)
- The first respondent objected in the Central Board proceedings that the appeal by the appellants was incompetent.
- The Government Pleader, as referred to in the opinion, contended that Section 68 does not confer upon the rule-making authority power to enlarge the substantive right of appeal beyond what Section 64 expressly provides; in other words, rules cannot create a substantive right of appeal where the statute does not provide one.
Table of Precedents Cited
| Precedent | Rule or Principle Cited For | Application by the Court |
|---|---|---|
| Rayarappan v. Madhavi Amma, AIR 1950 FC 140 | That when a statute confers power to appoint (a receiver) the power to remove may be read into that grant by rule of construction (invoking S.16 General Clauses Act). | The Court observed that the reasoning in this decision does not help the appellants; it refused to extend that mode of construction to import a right of appeal under S.64(b) where the Act does not expressly provide it. |
| Venkatasami v. Stridavamma, 10 Mad 179 (Full Bench) | Similar interpretative reasoning: power to appoint was held to carry with it the power to refuse to appoint (and thus both orders appealable) under the former CPC provisions. | The Court held that the analogy cannot be extended to the present statutory context; the decision does not support implying an appeal right under S.64(b) for refusals to vary conditions. |
| Attorney General v. Sillem, (1864) 10 HL 704 | The creation of a new right of appeal is a substantive matter requiring legislative authority; rule-making powers do not permit a tribunal to create a new right of appeal. | The Court relied on this authority to hold that Rule 208 (a rule) cannot be construed to create by implication a substantive right of appeal where Section 64 does not provide one. |
| Colonial Sugar Refining Co. v. Irving, (1905) AC 369 | A right of appeal is substantive and not merely procedural; courts or rule-makers cannot deprive or create such rights by procedural rules. | Used to reinforce the proposition that an appeal right cannot be implied from procedural rules and must be conferred by statute; supported the limitation on rule-making power under S.68. |
| R & W Paul Ltd. v. Wheat Commission, (1937) AC 139 | Rule-making bodies with general powers to give effect to an Act cannot, by by-law, abrogate or exclude statutory rights (here the Arbitration Act) unless expressly authorized. | The Court invoked this case to support the proposition that general rule-making language cannot be read to authorize creation or abrogation of substantive rights such as appeals; R.208 cannot confer an appeal right contrary to S.64. |
| National Telephone Co. Ltd. v. Postmaster General (No. 2), (1913) AC 546 | Where a new jurisdiction is conferred upon an existing court within a Code that includes procedure and appeals, ordinary incidents (including appeal) may follow. | The Court explained the principle but held it inapplicable here because the Motor Vehicles Act is a self-contained code creating its own remedies and appeal provisions; thus the principle did not permit implying an appeal under R.208. |
| Adaikappa Chettiar v. Chandrasekhara Thevar, ILR (1948) Mad 505 (PC) | Reiterates the principle that where ordinary courts adjudicate disputes they follow ordinary rules of procedure and appeals may lie where so authorized. | The Court observed the principle but found it irrelevant to the present case because the Act itself contains specific appeal provisions and must govern. |
| Secy. of State v. Mask & Co., ILR (1940) Mad 599 (PC) (quoted) | Where a statute creates a liability and prescribes a particular remedy, the statutory remedy must be adopted (i.e., one must use the remedy the statute prescribes). | Applied to underscore that the Motor Vehicles Act provides a statutory scheme for rights and remedies, and parties must proceed according to that scheme rather than by importing other remedial incidentals by implication. |
| Wolverhampton New Waterworks Co. v. Hawkesford, (1859) 141 ER 486 (quoted) | Illustrates the principle that a statutory remedy provided for a new statutory liability must be followed. | Quoted as authority for the general rule that statutory remedies are exclusive for statutory rights; used to reject the suggestion that procedural rules may create substantive appeals. |
| Secy. of State v. Chellikani Rama Rao, 39 Mad 617 (PC) & Hem Singh v. Basant Das, 17 Lah 146 (PC) | Referenced in support of the proposition that ordinary courts adjudicating statutory disputes are governed by ordinary procedural rules and appeals where authorized. | The Court cited them as part of its discussion of when the "ordinary courts" principle might allow appeals to be recognized, but concluded those principles did not alter the statutory scheme in this Act. |
Court's Reasoning and Analysis
The Court's analysis proceeds by direct statutory interpretation of Section 64 (clauses (a) and (b)), consideration of the relevant rules (R.147 and R.208) made under Section 68 of the Motor Vehicles Act, and established principles about the source of appellate rights.
Interpretation of S.64(a):
- The Court read clause (a) (and the second part of its text) to apply only where the grantee of a permit is aggrieved by a condition attached to the permit at the time the permit was granted.
- Because the appellants were satisfied with the original 1944 permit condition (route restricted to Kurnool–Atmakur) when it was granted, they cannot be said to have been "aggrieved" by that condition at the time of grant; any grievance that arose later from subsequent events (e.g., another permit granted to a competing operator) cannot be the basis for an appeal under S.64(a).
- The Court emphasized that an appeal under S.64 must be exercised within the time prescribed by R.147 (thirty days from despatch of the relevant order), reinforcing that the grievance must exist at the relevant time.
Interpretation of S.64(b) and the refusal-to-vary argument:
- The appellants argued cl. (b) (concerning variation of conditions) should be read to carry with it a right of appeal even where the RTA refuses to vary conditions (i.e., refusal = de facto refusal to grant an altered permit).
- The Court rejected the analogy to older CPC cases (appointment/removal of receivers) and the general rule of construction invoked there, finding those decisions inapplicable to the specific statutory scheme of the Motor Vehicles Act.
- The Court reasoned that the Legislature deliberately made only an order that actually varies the conditions appealable; a refusal to vary was not included, and there is a rational basis for that choice (if a grantee was dissatisfied with original conditions, he should have appealed promptly when the permit was granted; changes made later that are detrimental may be appealable when the conditions are varied against him, but a refusal to vary does not change the permit).
On Rule 208 and the rule-making power under S.68:
- Rule 208(b) provides that where a variation application would authorise materially different transport facilities the Transport Authority should treat the application "as if it were an application for a permit."
- The appellants urged that this procedural direction effectively makes a refusal to vary equivalent to a refusal to grant a permit and therefore appealable under S.64(a).
- The Court rejected this contention on principle: a right of appeal is substantive, not purely procedural, and cannot be created by implication through a procedural rule. It must be expressly granted by the statute. The Court cited authorities (Attorney General v. Sillem; Colonial Sugar Refining Co. v. Irving; R & W Paul Ltd. v. Wheat Commission) to demonstrate that rule-making powers cannot be used to create a new substantive right of appeal or to enlarge the scope of existing appeal provisions.
- The Court also considered the wording of S.68 (including cl. (j) of sub-s. (2)) and concluded that the rule-making power allowed regulations about authorities, timing and manner of appeals where appeals are already provided for — it did not permit conferring a new right of appeal where the Act did not recognise one.
On applicability of principles about added jurisdiction and appeals:
- The Court acknowledged the principle from National Telephone Co. Ltd. and Adaikappa Chettiar that when an existing court is given a new jurisdiction the ordinary incidents of procedure (including appeal) may follow. However, the Court held this principle inapplicable here because the Motor Vehicles Act is a self-contained code that both creates rights and prescribes remedies and appeals; accordingly, the remedy scheme in the statute governs.
- Consequently, the mere direction in R.208 to treat certain variation applications "as if" they were permit applications did not carry with it the appellate incident of a refusal to grant a permit under S.64.
Conclusion of analysis: Applying these interpretive points, the Court agreed with the learned Judge below that the Central Road Traffic Board lacked jurisdiction to entertain the appellants' appeal against the RTA order of 31 August 1950. The Court therefore concluded that the Central Board's order and the Government's revisional confirmation were void for want of jurisdiction.
Holding and Implications
Holding: The Court dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal and affirmed that the Central Road Traffic Board had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal against the Regional Transport Authority's order dated 31 August 1950. In the Court's language, the decision appealed against (i.e., Subba Rao J.'s judgment allowing the writ petition and setting aside the Central Board and Government orders) is correct.
Direct consequences for the parties:
- The appeals to the Central Road Traffic Board (against the RTA order of 31 August 1950) were held to be incompetent and without jurisdiction.
- The orders of the Central Road Traffic Board and the Government (in revision) that had extended permits to the appellants were treated as void for want of jurisdiction; the writ petition which sought to quash those orders was allowed at first instance and that result was upheld.
- The Letters Patent Appeal was dismissed with costs; an advocates' fee of Rs. 100/- (one set) was ordered (as recorded in the opinion).
Broader implications: The opinion confines its effect to the statutory interpretation and application in this case: the Court emphasized that rights of appeal are substantive and must be conferred by the statute (Section 64) and cannot be created by procedural rules (Rule 208) made under Section 68. The opinion does not state that it is establishing a novel general principle beyond its application to the statutory scheme at issue; it applies established authorities to conclude that rule-making cannot enlarge substantive appeal rights under the Act.
Disposition: Appeal dismissed.
Satyanarayana Rao, J.:— This Letters Patent Appeal is against the judgment of our learned brother, Subba Rao J. setting aside the order of the Government and that of the Central Road Traffic Board and allowing Writ Petition No. 282 of 1951 to quash the orders. The only question, that was debated before him and now before us, is whether there was a right of appeal to the Central Road Traffic Board against the order of the Regional Transport Authority dated 31st August 1950 refusing to grant the application of the appellants to extend the route of the bus service from Atmakur to Velgode. The learned Judge held that the appeal was incompetent, that therefore the order of the Central Road Traffic Board extending the permit in favour of the appellants to Velgode was without jurisdiction, and that the order passed by the Government in the exercise of their revisional jurisdiction confirming the order of the Central Road Traffic Board was also void.
2. In order to appreciate the contention that the appeal to the Central Road Traffic Board is incompetent, it is necessary to state a few relevant facts. The appellants, two in number, were running buses along the route Kurnool-Atmakur from the year 1944 under permits granted by the Regional Transport Authority in that year. In 1949, it was decided by the Regional Transport Authority to extend the route to Velgode, i.e a place beyond Atmakur. Applications for that route were filed by the first respondent and also by the appellants. On 16-6-1950 the Regional Transport Authority called for objections to grant the permits for the extended route to the applicants. By an order of 28th June 1950 the Regional Transport Authority granted a permit to the first respondent to run his buses up to Velgode. The application by the appellants, however, was not disposed of till 31st August 1950, when the Regional Transport Authority made an order rejecting their application. The order of 28th June 1950 granting a permit to the first respondent was not carried on appeal by the appellants. The order made on their application was the subject-matter of an appeal to the Central Road Traffic Board, and notwithstanding the objection of the first respondent that the appeal was incompetent, the Central Road Traffic Board, overruling the objection, set aside the order of the Regional Transport Authority and granted permits in favour of the appellants also, extending their service to Velgode. The first respondent carried the matter unsuccessfully in revision to the Government, and thereafter he filed a writ petition, which was disposed by Subba Rao J. As stated above, lie allowed the application, and held that the oppeal to the Central Road Traffic Board by the appellants against the order of the Regional Transport Authority dated 31st August 1950 was incompetent.
3. In this appeal by the appellants their learned Counsel, Mr. Bhashyam, adopted a line of argument which was not the one adopted by him before Subba Rao J. It is unnecessary therefore to deal in detail with the reasoning of the learned Judge by which he arrived at the conclusion, that the appeal to the Central Road Traffic Board was incompetent. It will be sufficient if we deal in this appeal with arguments as presented before us by Mr. Bhashyam, the Learned Counsel for the appellants. He attempted to maintain his position that the appeal was competent by relying upon cls. (a) and (b) of S. 64. He further relied on R. 208 of the Rules framed by the Government under the Motor Vehicles Act by virtue of the power conferred upon the Provincial Government by S. 68 of the Act. His contention based on the said rule was that the applications made by 5the appellants should be treated as applications for the grant of a permit as laid down by that Rule, and if so treated, the refusal to grant the extension should be deemed to be a refusal to grant a permit, which order would be appeal-able under S. 64(a) of the Act. It is therefore necessary to deal with these contentions in the order in which they were stated above.
4. Learned Counsel of the appellants relied upon the second part of cls. (a) and (b) of S. 64. It is as well that the two clauses (a) and (b) are quoted here:
(a) “Any person aggrieved by the refusal of the Provincial or a Regional Transport Authority to grant a permit or by any condition attached to a permit granted to him, or
(b) aggrieved by the revocation or suspension of the permit or by any variation of the conditions thereof may within the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, appeal to the prescribed authority, who shall give such person and the original authority an opportunity of being heard.”
5. Rule 147 lays down that:
“An appeal under S. 64 of the Act against an order of the Road Traffic Board or against an order of the Secretary of the Board, shall lie to the Central Board within thirty days of the date of despatch of the order appealed against.”
6. Rule 148 deals with appeals to the Government against an original order of the Central Board or against an order of the Secretary of that Board, with which we are not concerned. It was contended that the refusal to grant the; application of the appellants amounted in substance to a refusal to alter the original condition of the permit restricting the route from Kurnool to Atmakur and declining to extend in to Velgode. The appellants therefore, it is claimed, are aggrieved by the condition attached to the permit that the route should be restricted to Kurnool-Atmakur, which was the effect of the decision of the Regional Transport Authority. If the order is so construed, it is urged that under the second part of S. 64(a) the appellants can be treated as persons aggrieved by the condition attached to the permit granted to them, and that the order will therefore be appealable.
7. This argument, in our opinion, proceeds on an erroneous view of clause in question. The clause, in our opinion, applies only to cases where by reason of the existence of a condition attached to a permit the grantee of the permit was aggrived by that condition at the time of the grant of the permit. If he was so aggrieved, it was open to him to have the condition removed or modified by an appeal under Cl. (a) of S. 64. It is not claimed on behalf of the appellants that the condition that the route should be restricted to Kurnool and Atmakur was, at the time it was imposed, prejudicial to them, and that they were aggrieved by it.
8. Under S. 48-A of the Act it is open to the Regional Transport Authority when granting a permit to attach a condition that the stage carriages shall be used only on specified routes or in a specified area. In 1944 when the original permit was granted to the appellants the only route that was declared was the route between Kurnool and Atmakur, and they were perfectly satisfied at the time of the grant of the permit with the condition or restriction that they should be confined to the route between Kurnool and Atmakur, and they were not in any manner aggrieved by such condition. It is, however, now curiously claimed that by subsequent events, the proposed extension of the route to Velgode and the restriction or the condition in the original permit act adversely to, their interests, and that therefore they are aggrieved by the condition now.
9. It is not, in our opinion, the intention of the Legislature when it enacted Cl. (a) to give a right of appeal in such circumstances. The right of appeal is to be exercised within the period of thirty days from the date of the order granting the permit, under R. 147, and the grievance, if any, regarding the condition that exists in the permit must be one that existed by the date of the grant of the permit. It is ‘not a grievance which accrued or which arose subsequent to the grant of the permit, that can be agitated in an appeal. According to the learned Advocate if the grievances (sic) by reason of subsequent events long after the grant of the permit it does not matter. To read the clause in the manner suggested by the learned Advocate for the appellants would be to put upon it an unnatural construction not intended by the Legislature when that clause was enacted. The contention therefore that the right of appeal could be justified under cl. (a) of S. 64 cannot be upheld.
10. The next argument was that when the Legislature conferred a right of appeal under cl. (b) to a person aggrieved by any variation of the conditions of the permit, it implied and carried with it also a right of appeal in a case where the Regional Transport Authority refused to vary the conditions of the permit. The power to vary the conditions of a permit, it was argued, carries with it the power to refuse to vary the conditions, in other words, to reject the application for variation or alteration. In support of his argument learned Counsel relied strongly upon two decisions, one of the Federal Court and the other of this Court, both of which related to the right of appeal under the Code of Civil Procedure against an order refusing to appoint a receiver.
11. Under the present Order 43, R. 1, Cl. (s), an order under R. 1 or R. 4 of Order 40 except an order under the proviso to sub-r. (2) of R. 4 is appealable. When we turn to R. 1, O. 40, the orders contemplated therein are: an order, appointing a receiver or removing any person from the possession or custody of the property, an order committing the same to the possession, custody or management of the Receiver and an order conferring upon the receiver the powers enumerated in cl. (d) of R. 1 of O. 40. In none of these orders is an order refusing to appoint a receiver included expressly. It was however ruled by the Federal Court in — ‘Rayarappan v. Madhavi Amma’, AIR 1950 FC 140 in an appeal against a decision of this Court that when the Code refers to the power to appoint a receiver, it includes within it the power of removal of a receiver as a matter of construction of the rule, bearing in mind S. 16, General Clauses Act.
12. It was therefore held that though the Legislature did not specifically and expressly refer to an order removing a receiver as appealable, such order was made appealable by adopting the rule of construction enacted in S. 16, General Clauses Act. Though no express reference is made in the earlier decision of the Full Bench in — ‘Venkatasami v. Stridavamma’, 10 Mad 179 to S. 16. General Clauses Act, the reasoning of the learned Judges in that case is more or less on the same lines, namely, that as a matter of interpretation of Sections 503 and 588 of the CPC then in force (the Code of 1882) the power to appoint carried with it also the power to refuse to appoint and therefore both orders were appealable, though the latter order was not expressly mentioned either in S. 503 or S. 588.
13. In our opinion, these decisions and the reasoning underlying them do not at all help the appellants and support their argument. No general rule of construction of the kind invoked and applied in the decision of the Federal Court is available to support the interpretation now sought to be placed upon the second part of cl. (b). No doubt, an application to vary the conditions of a permit may be granted or refused, but the Legislature for reasons best known to itself, thought fit to make an order which varies the conditions of the permit alone appealable. If one may attempt to find the reason, it seems to be this: If the original conditions of the permit were not such as would be prejudicial to the grantee, he would accept the permit; if not, he would have carried the matter in appeal to the Central Road Traffic Board under Cl. (a) of S. 64 within the time prescribed by R. 147. If he did not carry the matter in appeal, it must be presumed that he was satisfied with those conditions.
14. If, however, at any later stage those conditions are varied by the concerned authority to the detriment of the grantee of the permit, it is but legitimate and reasonable that he should be given a right of appeal to have the matter agitated in a higher forum. There is no reason to allow a right of appeal if the conditions are not varied, because so long as the permit lasts, those conditions will continue to attach to the permit, particularly as the grantee did not feel aggrieved at the time or the grant of the permit by the existence of those conditions in the permit. That is the reason why we think no right of appeal was conferred by the Legislature in cases where the variation was refused. The analogy, therefore, of the decision of the Federal Court and of this Court in — ‘Venkatasami v. Stridavamma’, 10 Mad 179 (FB) cannot be extended to the present case, and we are therefore unable to accept the argument of the learned counsel for the appellants based on the interpretation of the latter part of Cl. (b) of S. 64.
15. Reliance was strongly placed on R. 208, which lays down the procedure to be followed in applications to vary the conditions of the permit. That rule consists of two parts and reads as follows:
“R. 208(a). Upon application made in writing by the holder of any permit, the Transport Authority may, at any time, in its discretion, vary the permit or any of the conditions thereof subject to the provisions of sub-r. (b).
(b) If the application is for the variation of the permit by the inclusion of an additional vehicle or vehicles or if the grant of variation would authorize transport facilities materially different from those authorised by the original permit the Transport Authority shall deal with the application as if it were an application for a permit.”
16. The argument is that the application for variation by reason of this Rule should be treated as an application for a permit and the refusal to grant it is a refusal to grant a permit, which order is appealable under S. 64-A of the Act. In other words, the argument amounts to this, that by implication a right of appeal is conferred by this Rule against orders refusing to vary the conditions of a permit. There are very many difficulties in the way of accepting this argument. In the first place, it is well-settled law that a right of appeal is substantive right and not a matter of procedure and should be created or conferred expressly by a statute. It cannot be inferred by implication. In the very illuminating speech of the Lord Chancellor (Lord Westbury) in the case in — ‘Attorney General v. Sillem’, (1864) 10 HL 704 at p. 720 the learned Lord Chancellor expressed thus:
“The creation of a new right of appeal is plainly an act which requires legislative authority. The Court from which the appeal is given, and the Court to which it is given must both be bound and that must be the act of some higher power. It is not competent to either tribunal, or to both collectively, to create any such right. Suppose the Legislature to have given to either tribunal, that is, to the Court of the First Instance, and to the Court of Error or Appeal respectively, the fullest power of regulating its own practice or procedure, such power would not avail for the creation of a new right of appeal, which is in effect a limitation of the jurisdiction of one Court, and an extension of the jurisdiction of another. A power to regulate the practice of a Court does not involve or imply any power to alter the extent or nature of its jurisdiction.”
17. In the well-known case of the Judicial Committee,—‘Colonial Sugar Refining Co. v. Irving’, (1905) AC 369 it was pointed out by Lord Macnaghten that a right of appeal was a substantive right and not a mere matter of procedure for the learned Lord observed at p. 372:
“It seems to their Lordships that the question does not admit of doubt. To deprive a suitor in a pending action of an appeal to a superior tribunal which belonged to him as of right is a very different thing from regulating procedure. In principle, their Lordships see no difference between abolishing an appeal altogether and transferring the appeal to a new tribunal. In either case there is an interference with existing rights contrary to the well-known general principle that statutes are not to be held to act retrospectively unless a clear intention to that effect is manifested.”
18. Rule 208, in terms, does not purport to confer a right of appeal; it purports to lay down the procedure applicable to applications for the variation of the conditions of a permit. It has been pointed out already that the substantive provision in the Act conferring a right of appeal in certain specified cases does not include within it a right of appeal against an order refusing to vary the conditions of a permit. If the rule in question does not in terms confer a right of appeal against an order refusing to vary the conditions of a permit, can it be said that it impliedly confers such a right? As has been pointed out above, a right of appeal must be expressly conferred by a statute and cannot be inferred by implication. It is not within the competence of the rule-making authority constituted under S. 68 of the Act to confer a new right of appeal not recognised or granted by S. 64 of the Act.
19. The Legislature would not have intended by implication, if from the language of S. 68 it could be implied at all, to have conferred a power on the rule-making authority to enlarge and extend the scope of S. 64, so as to confer a right of appeal not recognised by S. 64. As has been rightly pointed out by the learned Government Pleader in the course of the arguments, all that S. 68 lays down with reference to appeals is that in cl. (j) of sub-s. (2) of that section it is stated that the rule-making power extends to indicate the authorities to whom, the time within which and the manner in which the appeals may be made. This does not in terms confer a power to extend the right of appeal in cases not governed by S. 64 of the Act. It was claimed, however, on behalf of the appellants by Mr. Bhashyam that the generality of the language in cl. (1) of S. 68 might be construed as implying such a power for S. 68(1) states:
“A Provincial Government may make rules for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this Chapter”.
20. The Chapter in which the provision relating the right of appeal, S. 64, is also included. From such a language a power to lay down by rules and confer a right of appeal cannot be inferred is gatherable from the decision of the House of Lords in — ‘R & W Paul Ltd. v. Wheat Commission’, (1937) AC 139. The by-law there was made by the Wheat Commission under the Wheat Act of 1932. The power to make by-laws therein was conferred among other grounds for giving effect to the provisions of the Act. Notwithstanding the generality of such a provision it was held by the House of Lords that by-law No. 20 made by the Wheat Commission in 1933 excluding the applications, of the Arbitration Act, 1889 to arbitration proceedings contemplated by by-law No. 20 was ultra vires. Lord Macmillan in his speech at p. 154 observed:
“The Arbitration Act is a Statute of general application and it confers a valuable and important right of resort to the Courts of law. To exclude its operation from an arbitration is to deprive the parties to the arbitration of the rights which the Act confers. When a public general statute provides for the reference of disputes to arbitration it is to be presumed that it intends them to be referred to arbitration in accordance with the general law as to arbitrations, with all the attendant rights which the general law confers.
21. I do not think that when Parliament enacts by one statute that disputes under it are to be referred to arbitration it can be presumed to have empowered by implication the abrogation of another statute which it has enacted I for the conduct of arbitration. Rather the 1 contrary. If this is intended, express word to that effect are in my opinion essential, and there are here no such express words. I am accordingly of opinion that the Wheat Commission exceeded their powers when they made a by-law that every dispute as to I whether any substance is flour should be I determined by an arbitration to which the Arbitration Act should not apply. I have only to add that the by-law must, in my opinion, be condemned as a whole and that it cannot I be solved by the excision of the objectionable 1 provision, which is not a severable but a vital part of the by-law.”
22. These observations of the learned Lord apply with equal force to the present case. Unless the statute by its enacting provisions has expressly conferred a right of appeal, the rule-making authority would not be within their powers in conferring a new right of appeal expressly or by implication. It therefore follows that R. 208 cannot be construed in such a manner as to transgress the limits of the power of the rule-making authority, which have been laid down and circumscribed by S. 68 of the Act.
23. In — ‘Attorney General v. Sillem’, (1864) 10 HL 704 already cited, by the 26th Section (of the Queen's Remembrancer's Act (22 and 23 Viet. C. 21) the Chief Baron and two or more Barons of the Court of Exchequer were empowered to make all such rules and orders as to the process, practice and mode of pleading on the Revenue Side of the Court and also to extend, apply or adapt any of the provisions of the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852 and the Common Law Procedure Act, 1854, and any of the rules of pleading and practice on the plea side of the said Court to the Revenue side of the said Court.
24. In exercise of this power the Chief Baron and two other Barons of the Court of Exchequer purported to confer a right of appeal, and the power was sought to be justified by placing reliance on S. 26 of the Act. Notwithstanding the very wide language employed in that section of making rules and orders as to the process, practice and mode of pleading on the Revenue Side of the Court it was held by the House of Lords that the Chief Baron and the two Barons of the Court of Exchequer had no power or authority to confer a right of appeal where it did not otherwise exist.
“These rules” said Lord Westbury, Lord Chancellor at page 725, “are so many legislative enactments purporting to create a new jurisdiction in the Court of Exchequer Chamber and House of Lords and prescribing the mode in which such a new jurisdiction shall be exercised. It is simply an incorrect use of language to call such enactments provisions respecting the process, practice, or mode of pleading in the Court of Exchequer; but unless they can be properly and strictly so denominated, there is not, in my opinion, any authority to make such rules conferred by the 26th Section of the Act in question.”
25. The application therefore of the procedure applicable to the disposal of the applications for grant of a permit to cases of variation of the conditions of a permit does not even by implication carry with it a right of appeal, assuming that otherwise the rule-making authority had the power to create a new right of appeal which, as already stated, did not, in fact, exist under S. 68. The reliance therefore placed by Mr. Bhashyam on R. 208 in support of the right of appeal cannot be justified by authority or by principle.
26. Strong reliance was placed by learned Counsel for the appellants on the decision of the House of Lords in — ‘National Telephone Co. Ltd. v. Postmaster General (No. 2)’. (1913) AC 546. It is a well recognised principle established by authority that if a new power or new jurisdiction is conferred upon a court which is regulated by a Code containing the procedure as well as a right of appeal, the exercise of that new jurisdiction by that court will carry with it the ordinary incidents of procedure applicable thereto as well as the general right of appeal from its decisions. It is this principle that is illustrated by the decision in—‘National Telephone Co. Ltd. v. Postmaster General (No. 2)’, (1913) AC 546. The same principle was again reiterated by the Judicial Committee in a very recent case which went up on appeal from this Court in — ‘Adaikappa Chettiar v. Chandrasekhara Thevar’, ILR (1948) Mad 505 (PC) a decision under Madras Act 4 of 1938. Lord Simonds in delivering the judgment stated at page 513 the principle in these terms:
“The true rule is that where a legal right is in dispute and the ordinary Courts of the country are seized of such dispute the Courts are governed by the ordinary rules of procedure applicable thereto and an appeal lies, if authorized by such rules, notwithstanding that the legal right claimed arises under a special statute which does not in terms confer a right of appeal — see ‘Secy. of State v. Chellikani Rama Rao’, 39 Mad 617 (PC) & — ‘Hem Singh v. Basant Das’, 17 Lah 146 (PC).”
27. It is difficult to see how this principle would help the appellants. This is not a case where to an existing court a new jurisdiction has been added by the Act. The Act, it must be mentioned, is a self-contained Code, and creates new rights and also provides for the adjudication of the disputes arising in respect of such rights. In such a case the remedy provided by the Statute alone must be followed as pointed out by the Judicial Committee in — ‘Secy. of State v. Mask & Co.’, ILR (1940) Mad 599 (PC) quoting from Willes J.'s judgment in — ‘Wolverhampton New Waterworks Co. v. Hawkesford’, (1859) 141 ER 486,
“Where the statute creates a liability not existing at common law, and gives also a particular remedy for enforcing it…… with respect to that class it has always been held, that the party must adopt the form of remedy given by the statute”.
28. In order to determine whether a right of appeal on the facts of the case exists or not, one has to look to the provisions contained in S. 64 of the Act, and if a party claiming a right of appeal is not able to bring himself within any of the clauses enumerated in S. 64 he has no right of appeal. If the jurisdiction had been conferred upon an ordinary civil court to adjudicate upon disputes of the nature contemplated by the Act without providing a right of appeal in the Act itself, the position would have been different. Probably to such a situation the principle of the decisions in — ‘National Telephone Co. Ltd. v. Postmaster General (No. 2)’, (1913) AC 546 and — ‘Adaikappa Chettiar v. Chandrasekhara’, ILR (1948) Mad 505 may be applied, but such is not the situation in the present case. The mere fact, that in the last part of R. 208(b) the Transport Authority is directed to deal with the matter as if it were an application for a permit does not carry with it by implication even a right of appeal, as if it was a refusal to grant a permit within the meaning of S. 64(a) of the Act. For these reasons we agree with the learned Judge that the Control Road Traffic Board had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal against the order of the Regional Transport Authority dated 31st August 1950. The decision appealed against is correct, and this Letters Patent Appeal must therefore be dismissed with costs. Advocates fee Rs. 100/- one set.
A/V.R.B
29. Appeal dismissed.
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