Motor Vehicle Act

U.P. State Road Transport Corporation v. Kashmiri Lal Batra 2025 INSC 1281 -S.88 Motor Vehicle Act - IS-RT Agreement -

CaseCiter

04 Nov 2025 • 3 min read

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Whether a stage carriage permit can be granted to a private operator on an inter-State route in terms of an IS-RT Agreement executed by and between two neighbouring States under Section 88 of the MV Act when portion of such inter-State route is common to an intra-State route which has been notified in terms of a scheme approved per the provisions of Chapter VI of the MV Act? ?

Motor Vehicle Act 1988 - Chapter V, VI- Statutory ordainment of Chapter VI overriding Chapter V. An IS-RT Agreement can be executed by two States drawing power from Section 88 of the 1988 MV Act, which is part of Chapter V thereof- An IS-RT Agreement by its very nature is an agreement between two States but not a law under the relevant MV Act. Approved schemes and notified routes, which are envisaged in Chapter VI, would obviously override Section 88, in view of Section 98 of the 1988 MV Act. (Para 45)

Case Info

Key Case Details

Case name: U.P. State Road Transport Corporation through its Chief General Manager v. Kashmiri Lal Batra & Ors.; with connected matters.
Neutral citation: 2025 INSC 1281.
Coram: Justice Dipankar Datta; Justice Augustine George Masih.
Judgment date: November 04, 2025.

Connected Matters

Civil Appeal Nos. 10522–10524 of 2025.
SLP (Civil) Diary No. 29083 of 2018.
Writ Petition (C) No. 748 of 2024.

Statutes / Laws Referred

Motor Vehicles Act, 1988: Sections 88(5)-(6), 97–103, and Section 98 (Chapter VI overrides Chapter V).
Motor Vehicles Act, 1939 (repealed): Corresponding provisions Sections 63(3-A), 63(3-B), 68-A to 68-F.
Constitution of India: Article 32; Article 226; Article 19(1)(g).

Caselaws and Citations

Mithilesh Garg v. Union of India, (1992) 1 SCC 168.
T.N. Raghunatha Reddy v. Mysore State Transport Authority, (1970) 1 SCC 541.
S. Abdul Khader Saheb v. Mysore Revenue Appellate Tribunal, (1973) 1 SCC 357.
Mysore SRTC v. Mysore Revenue Appellate Tribunal [Mysore SRTC (I)], (1975) 4 SCC 192.
Mysore SRTC v. Mysore STAT [Mysore SRTC (II)], (1974) 2 SCC 750.
Adarsh Travels Bus Services v. State of Uttar Pradesh, (1985) 4 SCC 557 (Constitution Bench; overruled Mysore SRTC (I), approved Mysore SRTC (II)).
T.V. Nataraj v. State of Karnataka, (1994) 2 SCC 32.

U.P. State Road Transport Corporation v. Kashmiri Lal Batra 2025 INSC 1281 -S.88 Motor Vehicle Act - IS-RT Agreement -

U.P. State Road Transport Corporation v. Kashmiri Lal Batra 2025 INSC 1281 -S.88 Motor Vehicle Act - IS-RT Agreement - .pdf

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#SupremeCourt holds that an Inter-State Reciprocal Transport ( IS-RT ) Agreement between two States is not a law under the relevant MV Act. Approved schemes and notified routes, which are envisaged in Chapter VI, would override Section 88. https://t.co/yoecbnbCQn pic.twitter.com/Qo86PG7tMI
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