interest of the public generally, that any particular fact or circumstan,ces, such as a previous recent grant in favour of an applicant or the holding of other permits by an operator, cannot by itself, indicate how it is related to this object. Unless, there are other facts and circumstance which link it with this object the ne.xus will not be established. For instance, an applicant may be a recent grantee whose capacity to operate a transport service efiiciently remains to be· tested so that a fresh grant to him may b~ pre-mature. In such a case, another applicant of tested efficiency may be preferred. On the other hand, a fresh grantee may have within a short period, disclosed such superiority or elhciency or offer such amenities to passengers that a recent grant. in his favour may be no obstacle in his way at all. Again, the fact that an applicant is operating other motor vehicles on other permits may, in one case, indicate that he had exceeded the optimum, or, has a position comparable to a monopolist, but, in another case,. it may enable the applicmlt to achieve better efficiency by moving towards the optimum which seems to be described as a "viabl.: unit" in the rules framed in Madras in 1968. Thus, it will be seen that, by itself, a rec:ent grant or the posse.ssion of other permits is neither a qualification nor a disqualification divorced from otht:r circumstances which could indicate how such a fact is related to the inten:sts of the public generally. It is only if there are other facts establishing the correlationship and indicate its advantages or disadvantages to the public generally that it will become a relevant circumstance. But, in cases where everything else is absolutely equal as between two applicants, which will rarely be the case, it could b:! said that an application of principle of equality of opportunity, which could be covered by Article 14, may enable a person who is not a fresh grantee to obtain a preference."
