LexM/S. NOVA ADS versus METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT CORPORATION AND ORS.
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A B c [2014] 13 S.C.R. 244 M/S. NOVAADS v. METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT CORPORATION AND ORS. (Writ Petition (C) No. 223 of 2009) DECEMBER 12, 2014 [DIPAK MISRA AND UDAY UMESH LALIT, JJ.) Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 - ss.203, 285, 285-A, 295-8, 285-C - Power to deal with erection of bus shelters for passengers - Held: It is the Corporation who has power to deal with the bus shelters and o the MTCL has no power or authority to deal with the same. Legislation - Held: The Rules, Regulations and the Notification cannot transgress the postulates engrafted under the statute. E Equity- Grant of- Held: Cannot be granted in violation of the law. Interpretation of Statutes - Grammatical/Ordinary Sense of words - Held: Every provision and every word must F be looked at generally before any provision or word is attempted to be construed - The words in the statute have to be construed in grammatical sense. Contracts- Government contracts- Tender- Held: A G public authority should not enter into private negotiations without calling for a tender - Whenever a contract is to be awarded or a licence is sought to be given, it is obligatory on the part of public authority to adopt a transparent and fair method. H 244 M/S. NOVAADS v. METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT 245 CORPORATION Disposing of the appeals, the Court A HELD: 1. The analysis of Section 203 would show that all public streets and their appurtenances which are not reserved under the control of the Central or State Government shall vest in the Corporation. Sub-section B 2 of Section 203 enables the State Government to issue a notification withdrawing any street, drain, drainage, tunnel, culvert or tree from the control of the Corporation. As per section 203(1 ), public streets which have been vested in the Corporation, unless it is reserved for the c Central Government or the State Government or unless a notification is issued to withdraw in respect of certain streets and other things from the control of the Corporation, it has the absolute control. Section 204 envisages that it is the duty of the Corporation to D maintain, repair and improve the streets which afe necessary and expedient for public safety and convenience. The key words are "safety" and "convenience" and that is the responsibility of the Corporation. Section 214 provides for protection of E appurtenances and materials of streets.· it lays down that it shall not be lawful for any person, without the permission of the Commissioner, to displace, take up or make any alteration in the fence, posts, pavement, flags or other materials of any public street. . The F Commissioner is the Commissioner of the Corporation . . [Paras 15to18][266-F-H; 267-B-H; 268-A] 2. Section 285 empowers the C~mmissioner to construct or provide public landing places, halting G places, cart-stand, cattle-shed and cow-house and for levy of fees for the use ofthe same, which is determined by the standing committee of the Corporation. The cart- stand includes stand for carriages including motor vehicles within the meaning of Motor Vehicles Act, 1939. H 246 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2014] 13 S.C.R. A Section 285-B deals with recovery of cart-stand fees, etc. On a scrutiny of the said provision, it is limpid that the Commissioner of the Corporation has the power to take appropriate action for the purpose of recovery, if the fee leviable under sub-Section (1) of Section 285·8 is not B paid. Section 285-C deals with licence fee for private cart-stand. The provision also postulates that no person shall open a new cart-stand or keep open a private-cart stand unless he obtains from the Commissioner a licence to do so and the owner of a place is required to C apply for licence. [Paras 19, 22 and 23][268-B; 270-C-D; 271·C·E] 3. Section 285-A authorises the Commissioner to prohibit use of public place or sides of public street as D car~·stand, etc. by any person within such distance which has to be determined by the standing committee. The proviso carries out an exception which stipulates that nothing contained in Section 285-A shall be deemed to authorise the Commissioner to prohibit the use of any E place in the city by the State Government as a stand solely for motor vehicles belonging to the Transport Department of the State Government. As Section 285 uses the term "cart-stand" and by way of amendment, it has been specified that a cart-stand would be 'stan
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