Route - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition route

Definition :

Route, means a line of travel which specifies the highway which maybe traversed by a motor vehicle between one terminus and another. [Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, s. 2 (38)]

Under s. 2(28A) inserted by s. 2 of Act 56 of 1969 the word 'route' has been defined as meaning 'a line of travel which specifies the highway which may be traversed by a motor vehicle between one terminus and another', Mysore State Road Transport Corporation v. Mysore State Transport Appellate Tribunal, AIR 1974 SC 1940: (1975) 1 SCR 615: (1974) 2 SCC 750.

A route as defined is a line of travel between two termini on a highway, but the idea of a route as a notional line that the definition suggests has not been consistently maintained in the Act. A route may mean not only the notional line of travel between one terminus and another, but also the area of the road over which the motor vehicles ply. Yet the two terms are not inter-changeable, D. Papiah v. Mysore State Transport Appellate Tribunal, AIR 1976 SC 1731: (1976) 1 SCC 953: (1976) 3 SCR 28.

'Route' is defined in s. 2(28A) of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1939 to mean a line of travel which specifies the highway which may be traversed by a motor vehicle between one terminus and another. The point is that it is not a notional line 'as the crow files' but the actual highway as a motor vehicle travels from one terminus to another, K. Venkamma v. Government of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1977 SC 1170: (1977) 3 SCC 36: (1977) 3 SCR 562.

A route meant not only the notional line but also the actual road over which the motor vehicles run, Adarsh Travels Bus Service v. State of U.P., AIR 1986 SC 319 (322): (1985) 4 SCC 557: (1985) Supp 3 SCR 661.

Means only the parent route or the route, which is sought to be modified, K. Vaithiananathan v. Union Territory of Pondicherry, AIR 1995 Mad 197 (See also Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, s. 88).