Telangana HC's green light for RTC privatisation

The Telangana High Court on Friday upheld the state government's decision to privatise 5,100 routes of state-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and dismissed the PIL filed by Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) leader PL Visweswara Rao, challenging the state cabinet's decision.

Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court on Friday dismissed a petition against the state government's decision to privatise 5,100 routes of state-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).

The court dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) leader PL Visweswara Rao, challenging the state cabinet's decision to grant permits to private operators to buses on 50 per cent of TSRTC routes.

The judgement, which has paved the way for the privatization of TSRTC, has come as a shot in the arm for Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government in the current standoff over the strike by TSRTC employees, which entered 48th day on Friday.

Though the striking employees have expressed their willingness to resume the work, they wanted the government to take them back without any conditions and restore the status which existed before they went on strike on October 5.

Read:T'gana CM holds meeting on transport workers strike

The government, however, made it clear on Thursday that given the serious financial crunch, it is not possible to run TSRTC the way it was being run.

A meeting presided over by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao till late Thursday discussed the situation in the wake of recent development and the willingness of the employees to end the strike.

The government, however, said it will decide the future course of action after the High Court pronounces its order on privatisation of TSRTC routes.

The High Court had earlier referred the issue relating to the strike to Labour Commissioner and refused to pass orders to the government either to hold talks with employees or take them back immediately.