CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court has dismissed a petition filed by a Bhubaneswar-based school challenging directions of the Labour department to register its school transport facility under the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.
The single judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi delivered the judgment on Thursday.
The petitioner school had sought quashing of communications dated July 31, 2025 and August 21, 2025 issued by the joint labour commissioner, Bhubaneswar, which required the school to apply for registration as a “motor transport undertaking” and warned of action under section 32 of the Act for non-compliance. It also sought a declaration that it was not covered by the Act.
The school, a private unaided CBSE-affiliated institution imparts education from nursery to Class XII and has over 2,500 students. It operates around 11 buses to facilitate transportation of students and staff, claiming the service is ancillary to education and is being run after obtaining permissions from the Police Commissionerate and the Commerce and Transport department.
Opposing the plea, the divisional Labour commissioner, Bhubaneswar, in a counter affidavit asserted that the school charged transport fees from students and therefore fell squarely within the statutory definition of a motor transport undertaking.
Agreeing with the state, the Justice Panigrahi noted, as a fare is levied on students, the activity cannot be regarded as a purely incidental charitable act. “The incidental nature of the transport service to the school’s primary purpose does not, in law, exempt it from the Act if the service meets the statutory definition,” Justice Panigrahi held.
“The collection of transportation charges from students, irrespective of the quantum or profitability, constitutes carriage for hire or reward in the legal sense,” the judge ruled and said the school could not claim exemption on the basis of its educational character and dismissed the writ petition.