The Kerala High Court on Tuesday observed that if employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) continued to engage in disruptive activities or in deleterious conduct, it would be difficult for the court to continue with the process of ensuring the payment of salaries to employees every month.
Justice Devan Ramachandran made the observation when an affidavit filed by the KSRTC seeking a directive to the trade unions not to lay siege to or block the entry of ministerial staff into the head office of the KSRTC. came up for hearing.
The court reminded everyone that the court was in the process of evolving a method to ensure that the affairs of the corporation were brought back on track to ensure its efficiency and profitability, at least in the future.
The corporation said the trade unions, Kerala State Road Transport Employees Association, Kerala Democratic Federation (TDF) and Kerala State Employees Sangh (BMS), had started blocking the entry points to the head office of the KSRTC at East Fort, Thiruvananthapuram, with an intention to create an impression that the employees were being paid salaries at their instance and not because of the interim orders of the High Court.
The affidavit further said the trade unions had completely blocked the entry of the office last Friday and as a result, payments towards the high-speed diesel could not be paid. It had affected many services in the northern district of the State.
It pointed out that with an intention to completely stall the functioning of the corporation, the unions without calling for a formal strike decided to block the functioning of the head office from June 27. Many employees who entered the head office could not go out. The unions had told the corporation that they would not allow any office staff to enter the head office from June 28.
The union leaders were aware that if they called for a strike, the employees might not respond as they knew that the High Court intervention was more effective than the unnecessary strike.
The corporation was making every effort to pay the salary of the employees for the last month. The income generated by the operations of the buses were decisive now. Blocking of services would badly affect the income. Therefore, it was highly necessary that the head office functioned without any hindrance from the unions and a section of the employees, the affidavit said.
