Telangana HC to Decide TSRTC Fate on November 11, Urges CM KCR to Hold Talks with Striking Employees

Hyderabad: Reprimanding government officials for deliberately submitting wrong reports on Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) arrears, Telangana High Court on Thursday announced that it will take a final call to end RTC strike on November 11.

While the November 5 deadline failed to bring the striking RTC employees back to work, the state government has added salt to injury by asking TSRTC to pay over Rs 450 crore as corporate tax.

Hearing the cases, Telangana High Court Chief Justice, Raghavendra Singh Chowhan, rapped finance secretary Ramakrishna Rao and other officials for two wrong reports on the ailing TSRTC arrears. Chowhan observed that giving wrong reports is tantamount to contempt of court.

The court also directed the government to hold talks with the RTC workers and Joint Action Committee (JAC) unions, and urge them to end the 34-day long impasse.

The court expressed anguish and dismay, stating that despite taking so much time, the state government and the RTC unions have failed to sit across the table and end the strike.

The court also received a petition to hear arguments on privatisation of TSRTC, one of the main reasons behind the strike.

Meanwhile, RTC JAC convenor, E Ashwathama Reddy said that they are ready to hold talks with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Instead of holding nine hours talks with government officials, KCR should hold 90 minutes talks with us to find an amicable solution to end the strike, Reddy stated.