The vacation bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday granted one day’s time to trade unions of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation which are spearheading the strike by bus crew to inform the court of their final decision on resumption of duties. The bench did not appreciate the attitude of the unions in not reporting for duties as directed by the court last week.
The bench comprising Justice K.C. Bhanu and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal took up the writ petitions filed by Dr. Venkat Rao and Mohammad Ghouse who complained that the strike was illegal and the State Governments had not acted decisively to stop it. The bench heard counsel for the unions for some time and asked pointedly why the unions had not complied with its earlier directions.
Counsel for the petitioners said his clients had filed a contempt case because the unions had not complied with the court directions. The bench wondered how the strike could go on when people were suffering. It reminded that the court had already prima facie held that the strike was illegal and granted the unions time till Wednesday for the unions to report for duty. Counsel for the unions said the AP Government had invoked Essential Services Maintenance Act against the strike but the same was not done by Telangana Governement.
The bench made it clear that it would have to direct State Governments to make alternative arrangements and all consequences would follow. The case will be listed on Wednesday.
Special Correspondent adds:
Meanwhile, representatives of APSRTC-Employees Union and the Telangana Mazdoor Union met members of the Cabinet Sub-Committee of Telangana government, comprising P. Mahender Reddy, Etala Rajender, Naini Narsimha Reddy, T. Srinivas Yadav and G. Jagdish Reddy, to reiterate their demand for nothing short of 43 per cent pay hike. They also discussed their problems with State government employees’ leaders V. Srinivas Goud and G. Deviprasad Rao. Late on Tuesday evening, the Cabinet panel again met the union leaders reportedly on instructions from Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to complete the conciliation process and get back to him with a mutually-agreeable solution.
The meeting which ended inconclusively was expected to resume deliberations on Wednesday morning and then go to Mr. Rao if an amicable settlement was reached.
