ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: The Supreme Court on Friday declared the franchise transport law of the Punjab government ultra vires but allowed the franchise companies to operate on the contracted routes for four months.
In a short order, the Supreme Court also directed the provincial government to take legislative and administrative measures to remove loopholes in the Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965.
"For reasons to be recorded later, the appeals and petitions filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution are accepted," a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court held while deciding petitions in which Section 69-A of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 was challenged for being violative of the Constitution. The section relates to the Franchise Transport System in Punjab.
Section 69-A of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 (as amended) is hereby declared ultra vires and as a consequence the impugned judgment of the Lahore High Court is set aside. However, the existing arrangement may continue for four months and the provincial governments would take appropriate legislative and administrative measures in accordance with the law, the order said.
The franchised transport routes were awarded to Varan Tours in Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Premier Transport System in Lahore and Manthar Metro in Faisalabad after inserting Section 69-A in the ordinance.
Petitioners from Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi including Arshad Mahmood, Mohammad Yunus, Mukhtar Ahmed, Zafar Iqbal and others had challenged the December 12, 2002 decision of the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court, which had dismissed petitions against the franchise transport system.
The petitioners had pleaded that Section 69-A was violative of Articles 8 (laws inconsistent with, or in derogation of fundamental rights to be void), 18 (freedom of trade, business or profession), 25 (equality of citizens) and 143 (inconsistency between federal and provincial laws) of the Constitution, therefore the law frustrated the concept of free competition and encouraged an environment of monopoly in favour of operators.
Soon after the announcement of the order, Chairperson Varan Tours Uzma Gull told the reporters that the court had given the transport companies four months time to operate and in the meantime the provincial government would remove lacunas in the franchise law.
Advocate Abdullah Khan Dogar, who had pleaded the case against the award of routes to the Premier Transport Company, said the court decision had once again demonstrated that the Constitution was supreme and that fundamental rights of citizens could in no way be ignored.
Advocate Akram Sheikh, while replying to the arguments of the respondents, said Section 69-A militated against the constitutional mandate. He said the section was meant to establish monopolies to the disadvantage of small bread-winners by commuting wagons and mini-buses under a permit.
A K Dogar said welfare of the people could not be guaranteed through a system of monopoly and lack of competition. Nasir Saeed Sheikh also said no notifications were issued before franchising the routes.
The larger bench comprised Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana Bhagwandas, Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah, Justice Hamid Ali Mirza, Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
During the hearing, Advocate General Punjab Syed Shabbir Raza Rizvi and Assistant Advocate General Punjab Afshan Ghazanfar represented the Punjab government, while Maqbool Illahi Malik and Aftab Gull represented Varan Tours.
Meanwhile, the public transport owners have termed the Supreme Court verdict their success. In an emergency press conference at the Rawalpindi Press Club soon after the announcement of the verdict, the transporters said they were not against the franchise company but wanted it to operate in a competitive environment.
