A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday dug its heels in by reiterating its directive to retrench empanelled conductors who have not completed 10 years and 120 days of minimum service and appoint willing candidates from the PSC rank list of reserved conductors in their place.
When the case came up for hearing again, the Bench comprising Justice V. Chitambaresh and Justice R. Narayana Pisharadi orally ordered the KSRTC to appoint those who had received advise memo from the PSC forthwith. The Bench made it clear that ineligible empanelled conductors no longer be allowed to continue in service from this moment.
During the hearing of the case, the Bench launched a broadside against the KSRTC and orally observed that the KSRTC was “attempting to take the court for a ride” besides trying to fool the public. The Judges wondered “how long it can do that”.
The Bench warned that it knew how its order should get implemented. “We also know how to move against the officials at the helm of affairs, who are reluctant to comply with the order,” it observed.
The court also noted that candidates in the PSC list had been waiting for two years. They had cracked the PSC test after so much of preparation. The court wondered why the KSRTC was giving more preference to the empanelled conductors who were appointed from the employment exchange list. There was no justification for this and it was highly illegal and arbitrary, it added.
The court asked the Managing Director to file a compliance report on December 18
The court on December 6 had directed the KSRTC MD to do away with the service of 4071 empanelled conductors within one week. However, when the KSRTC sought two more months time to implement the order, it was declined.
