A vacation Bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Saturday declared the continuous strike for the last four days by APSRTC employees as illegal and ordered all the workers to report to duty. However, the employee unions, while maintaining that they had called for the strike within the provisions of law, asserted that they would continue till their grievances on wage revision are addressed. The Bench comprising Justice K.C. Bhanu and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal assembled at the former’s residence to hear arguments in cases filed as urgent house motion. The cases were filed by C.L. Venkat Rao and Mohammad Ghouse. Senior Counsel C.V. Mohan Reddy and P.V. Krishniah appeared on behalf of the petitioners. They contended that the ongoing strike was playing havoc with the life of the common man. The petitioners said the demands of workers could be solved through negotiations by a high-power committee and not through strike.
The government notice prohibiting the strike and the proceedings of the Labour Commissioner were placed before the Bench. They charged that both the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments were not acting to stop the strike. The RTC standing counsel said the corporation, which was incurring huge losses, agreed for a 27 per cent fitment formula, but workers were unyielding. In its interim order, the Bench wanted to know what steps the two governments had taken to deal with the demands. The governments and the unions were asked to respond by May 12. The notices are to be served on the unions. The Bench said that prima facie the strike is illegal and the workers are to report to duty.
