BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on August 4 directed the Joint Action Committee of the Trade Unions of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Employees to put on hold the proposed indefinite strike from August 5 for a day.
A division bench of Justice K S Mudagal and Justice M G S Kamal passed the interim order after hearing the public interest litigation filed by Sunil J and four others through the advocate Deeksha N Amrutesh seeking the intervention of the HC to avoid the possible inconvenience to the commuters due to the proposed strike.
Joint Action Committee of the Trade Unions of KSRTC Employees with the support of five other labour unions had called an indefinite strike demanding various demands of the KSRTC employees, including a pay hike with effect from January 1, 2024, settlement of pending salary arrears, wage revision and deputing only the state-run transport corporation to operate electric buses instead of those deputed by private players, etc.
Advocate for the petitioner, Deeksha Amrutesh, submitted that the commuters will be put to hardship if the strike is not called for or the ongoing negotiation of the state government and the KSRTC with the labour organisations, who have called for the strike.
Even after the announcement of invoking the Essential Service Maintenance Act on July 14, the strike has been announced. Hence, the court has to intervene to ensure the uninterrupted functioning of state-run transport corporations, she prayed.
Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for the KSRTC submitted that the negotiation is going on today. Earlier, the conciliation between the parties has been deferred to August 7 after it was unsuccessful on August 2. If all the demands of the labourers are to be fulfilled, it requires Rs 2,200 crores for the KSRTC, the counsel argued.
The court also issued notice to the state government, the Joint Action Committee of the Trade Unions of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Employees and others.