PIL filed against route privatisation

Petitioner contends that RTC board alone can take decisions pertaining to transport body and its staff

Challenging the Telangana Cabinet decision for privatising the 5,100 permits of the RTC, a PIL has been filed before the Telangana High court seeking a stay on the decision.

Professor P.L. Vishweshwar Rao, convenor, Telangana Democratic Forum and vice president of Telangana Janasamithi filed the petition, alleging that the state cabinet has taken the decision in a hurry without following the stipulated law.

Instead of continuing negotiations with RTC trade unions, resolving the problems and getting them to call off the strike and join duty, they are rushing to privatise.

Tracing the history of the Road Transport Corporation from 1950 to the present, where around

50,000 workers are employed to provide transport facilities to commuters in Telangana with around

10,000 buses, the petitioner states that the cabinet has taken the decision in a whimsical manner.

He submitted that only the RTC board only has the power to make any administrable decisions under Section 45 of the RTC Act, 1950. The section vests the power to make regulations with the corporation, with previous sanction of the state government. However, the Cabinet on November 2 took the decision to privatise 50 per cent of the routes of the corporation, violating the RTC Act and Motor Vehicles Act 1988.

Prof Rao brought to the notice of the court that the Provident Fund contribution of the RTC employees amounting to

`900 crores and employees co-operative amount of

`326 crores were being diverted.

The court tagged the PIL with the other PILs related to the RTC strike, when on Wednesday Chikkudu Prabhakar, the counsel representing the petitioner urged the court to hear this petition urgently.