The Karnataka High Court Thursday disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against a strike by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and other transport corporation employees after receiving a resolution stating that it has been called off.
A bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi heard the matter.
The resolution submitted to the bench stated, “After taking into account the advice of legal consultants and with due deference to Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka…. decides unanimously to call off the indefinite strike of the Road Transport Corporations Employees, as per the Hon’ble Court’s direction, all over the state with immediate effect.”
The petitioner’s counsel had requested that a time frame be set to decide the disputed issues to prevent such a situation from arising again.
A Joint Action Committee of the four state transport corporations has been demanding a 25 per cent pay hike, dated January 1, 2024, settlement of 38 months of payment arrears starting from January 2020, and wage revisions.
The PIL against the strike, filed by several commuters relying on the transportation services, had argued that the strike would result in grave harm to vulnerable sections of the public, especially the economically weaker section.
When the matter was initially heard by a division bench of the High Court this Monday, a direction was issued not to conduct the strike for a day pending the negotiations with the Karnataka Government, in light of the hardship to the public.
However, there was a considerable reduction in services Tuesday.
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As reported by the Indian Express, Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) operated at just 29 per cent of its capacity, KSRTC at 43 per cent, and North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) at 59 per cent. Only Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) maintained near-normal operations, reporting 99 per cent of scheduled services.
The Chief Justice’s bench took exception to this, warning of possible contempt proceedings while directing the strike to be called off until the next day of hearing. The bench had also made an oral observation that the public could not be held to ransom.