THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar has said that the department will be filing an appeal against the High Court single bench order that allowed private buses to operate long distance services (over 140km). He said the appeal will be filed by Tuesday and the case will be represented by senior lawyers.
“The honourable court cited technicalities while quashing the government notification and not the merit of the case. I am sure that we will be able to convince the court,” said the minister.
The order was considered a huge blow to the KSRTC as the private operators no longer need permit from the Motor Vehicles Department to operate these services.
KSRTC has been operating in the sector as a monopoly since the takeover of the routes in 2022. The private stage carriers maintained that the takeover was in violation of Section 102 of the Motor Vehicle Act and Rule 246 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules.
Ganesh Kumar dismissed the allegations of a few trade unions that the management deliberately weakened the case.
He pointed out that the government has allocated Rs 92 crore for purchasing premium class buses to operate the take-over services. KSRTC has called for tenders for purchasing 200 buses.
However, the procedure was affected due to the delay in getting funds. Collection from long distance routes forms a major chunk of KSRTC’s revenue.