1912, Laws 1912, chs. 109, 790, and codified in Montgomery County Code 1950, sec. 65-10, the Council is vested with authority to grant franchises to public utilities to use the highways of the County, and that no public utility has the right to install transmission lines on, above or below the surface of these highways until it obtains a franchise from the Council.
The public local law, on which the County relied, reads as follows:
"No franchise or right in relation to any highway, avenue, street, lane or alley, either on, above or below the surface of the same, shall be granted by the County Council until the following provisions shall have been complied with: (1) The application for such franchise or right shall be published by the applicant oncefor the hearing of such objections."
The County then cited the section of the Public Service Commission Law, Code (1951), art. 78, sec. 60, which commands that no gas corporation or electrical corporation shall begin construction, or exercise any right or privilege under any franchise granted after April 5, 1910, the date of passage of the Act creating the Public Service Commission, or make any extension of its lines, works or system, without first having obtained the permission and approval of the Commission. The County relied particularly on the following provision of Section 60: "Before such certificate shall be issued a certified copy of the charter of such corporation shall be filed in the office of the Commission, together with a verified statement of the president and secretary of