High Court to give urgent hearing to PIL against MSRTC workers’ strike

Even though the Bombay High Court is on leave due to the Diwali vacations, the court will assemble on Wednesday, especially to hear a PIL against the indefinite strike declared by employees of MSRTC.

A single-judge bench of Justice Sandeep Shinde will be hearing this PIL filed by advocate Madhav Thorat, who has sought a stay on the strike.

The PIL intends to highlight the problems faced by the citizens due to this sudden strike, especially the rural and tribal citizens, since the State Transport (ST) buses are the only available mode of transport for them.

According to advocate Thorat, “Nearly 65 lakh people travel via ST buses on a daily basis. The worst hit by the strike are the people living in remote areas since DT buses are the only mode of transport for them to carry out their routine life like going to school, work, getting groceries, etc.”

“We have sought a declaration that this strike is illegal and bad in law, relying on a government notification and also a ruling wherein it is specifically held that employees working in essential services for public at large, cannot go on strikes. Here, the 98 per cent MSRTC employees are very much aware that it is Diwali season and that lakhs of people use their service to go to their home towns but still they have declared strike,” Thorat added.

Though the PIL is seeking a direction against the striking workers, it maintains that their (workers) demands are “legitimate”. Thorat said, “We are only opposing the manner in which they have sought their demands. This is certainly not the manner to ask for rights, one cannot hold the government for ransom like this.” Thorat also informed that Wednesday was a holiday even for HC’s vacation judges, but Justice Shinde had decided to hear the PIL on an urgent basis because of the sensitive issue.