Rajasthan Requisitioning of Public Service Vehicles Act, 1987
No: 22 Dated: May, 27 1987
Rajasthan Requisitioning of Public Service Vehicles Act, 1987
(Act No. 22 of 1987)
Act to provide for requisitioning of public service vehicle for purposes of maintaining transport service in the State during strike period.
Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the Thirty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the Rajasthan Requisitioning of Public Service Vehicle Act, 1987.
(2) It extends to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Interpretation. - In this Act, unless there is anything contrary in the subject or context,-
(i) "Government" means the Government of the State of Rajasthan;
(ii) "Public service vehicle" has the same meaning as in clause (25) of section 2 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1939 (Central Act IV of 1939);
(iii) "Strike" means any cessation of work (including any unauthorized absence from duty) by a body of persons employed in the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue any number of persons who are or have been employed to continue to work or to accept employment and includes-
(a) refusal to work over-time where such work is necessary for the maintenance of essential transport service;
(b) any other conduct which is likely to result in or results in cessation or substantial retardation of work in any essential transport service.
3. Requisitioning of Public Service Vehicles for purposes of transport of passengers. - (1) If it appears to the Government that on account of strike or imminent threat of strike by the employees of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation, any public service vehicle in any part of Rajasthan is needed or is likely to be needed for the purposes of transport of passengers to, from, or within any area of Rajasthan, the Government may, by order in writing requisition any such vehicle and may make such further orders as may appear to it to be necessary or expedient in connection with the requisitioning.
(2) The requisition under sub-section (1) shall be affected by an order in writing addressed to the person deemed by the Government to be the owner or person in possession of the public service vehicle and such order shall be served in the manner provided in sub-section (3) on the person to whom it is addressed.
(3) An order of requisition under sub-section (1) shall be served-
(a) Where the person to whom such order is addressed is a corporation or firm, in the manner provided for the service of summons in rule 2 of Order XXIX, or rule 3 of Order XXX, as the case may be, in the first Schedule to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908); and
(b) Where the person to whom such order is addressed is an individual-
(i) personally by delivering or tendering the order, or
(ii) by registered post, or
(iii) If the person cannot be found, by leaving an authentic copy of the order with any adult member of his family or by affixing such copy to some conspicuous part of the premises in which he is known to have last resided or carried on business or personally worked for gain.
4. Accessories not to be removed. - No owner of any public service vehicle or any person in possession of it shall, after service of an order under section 3, remove or allow to be removed any part, tyre, tube or any other accessory from the vehicle so as to hamper the use of such vehicle.
5. Duration of requisition. - Whenever any vehicle is requisitioned under sub-section (1) of section 3, the period of such requisitioning shall not extend beyond the period for which such vehicle is required for any of the purposes mentioned in that sub-section.
6. Payment of requisition. - Whenever, in pursuance of section 3, the Government requisitions any public service vehicle, there shall be paid to the owner thereof compensation the amount of which shall be determined by the Government on the basis of the rates prevailing in the locality for the hire of such vehicle:
Provided that the owner of such vehicle, if aggrieved by the amount of compensation so determined, may, within fourteen days from the date of determination of the amount of such compensation or, where the amount of such compensation has been determined in the absence of the owner, within fourteen days from the date on which intimation of such determination is sent to the owner, make an application to the Government for referring the matter to an arbitrator, and in that case the amount of compensation to be paid shall be such as the arbitrator appointed in this behalf by the Government may determine:
Provided further that where immediately before the requisitioning, such vehicle was by virtue of a hire-purchase agreement in the possession of the person other than the owner, the amount determined under this sub-section as the total compensation payable in respect of the requisition shall be apportioned between that person and the owner in such manner as they may agree upon, and in default or agreement in such manner as the arbitrator appointed by the Government in this behalf may decide.