Fee-charging school buses fall under Motor Transport Workers Act: Orissa HC dismisses CBSE school’s plea

The Orissa High Court has reportedly dismissed a writ petition filed by a Bhubaneswar-based CBSE-affiliated school challenging the Labour Department’s order that required it to register its school transport service under the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.

The single-judge bench of Justice SK Panigrahi delivered the judgment on Thursday.

According to The New Indian Express, the school had filed a petition urging the HC to cancel two notices issued by the Joint Labour Commissioner, Bhubaneswar, on July 31 and August 21, 2025, directing the school to register its transport service as a ‘motor transport undertaking’ and warned that legal action would be taken under the law if it failed to comply.

The divisional Labour commissioner, Bhubaneswar, asserted that the school charges transport fees from students and hence falls within the definition of a motor transport undertaking.

Notably, the school, a private unaided CBSE-affiliated institution, operates around 11 buses to facilitate the transportation of its students and staff.

Dismissing the writ petition, Justice Panigrahi ruled, “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.”

“The collection of transportation charges from students, irrespective of the quantum or profitability, constitutes carriage for hire or reward in the legal sense,” the Justice held.