High Court extends its stay on privatisation of TSRTC

The Telangana High Court on Thursday suggested to the petitioner who has challenged the Cabinet decision to privatise 5,100 route permits to delete the words ‘in TSRTC’.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy was dealing a PIL filed Prof. P.L Vishweshawar Rao. He had said the PIL was filed on the basis of news reports of the Cabinet decision.

On November 8, the court had directed Advocate General B.S. Prasad to submit the Cabinet decision in a sealed cover, after the state government said Cabinet decisions are confidential.

Mr Prasad placed the Cabinet decision before the bench in a sealed cover and said only after issuing a government order (GO) will it be implemented.

Chief Justice Chauhan noted that there was violation of Section 102 of the Motor Vehicles Act as the government had not issued notice to the TSRTC regarding the privatising of routes. At this, Mr Prasad began reading out from the Cabinet decision. The judge stopped him, saying the media would report the confidential details.

Mr Prasad and transport commissioner Sandeep Sultania then stepped up to the bench and explained the Cabinet decision.

Following this, the Chief Justice asked Mr Chikkudu Prabhakar, counsel for the petitioner, to amend the prayer. “Your prayer reflects that the government will be privatizing the permits in the TSRTC. The Cabinet decision does not say so, he said. The court extended the stay on privatisation and adjourned the hearing to November 18.