In Brief
The U.P. State Road Transport Corporation challenged a High Court order that allowed private operators (respondents) to continue operating vehicles on an 11 km stretch (Dewal-Bijnor) that had become a nationalized/notified route. The Supreme Court held that once a route is formally notified under a nationalization scheme, private operators cannot operate on it unless explicitly authorized by the scheme's terms. Although the respondents had pre-existing permits for routes that previously used this stretch before the 1985 Ganga Barrage construction, their permits did not cover the notified portion itself. The Court upheld the cancellation of their permits, establishing that existing operators receive no protection merely due to prior operation and must comply with statutory prohibitions on notified routes.
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