CHENNAI: The first bench of Madras High Court headed by Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala is likely to take up the petition filed by a college student against the ongoing state transport workers’ strike, on Wednesday.
The petition, filed by S Paul Kithiyon, a student of B.Pharm at a private college in Chennai, seeks to declare the strike as illegal and unconstitutional and direct the government to take appropriate action to stop the stir.
Senior counsel PR Raman mentioned the matter before the CJ on Tuesday morning and sought an urgent hearing. As the filing formalities were not completed, the matter was not taken up on the day. When it was again mentioned in the afternoon, the judge agreed to hear the petition on Wednesday if the formalities were completed.
“The free movement of citizens has been forcefully and artificially curtailed on account of the illegal strike called by associations to fulfil their demands, which have been pending for more than eight years, by way of literally coercing the government by calling for the strike during Tamil festival season,” the petitioner said.
The strike call would adversely affect the smooth functioning of the public and service sectors and would cause a serious impact on the functioning of hospitals, educational institutions, government departments and other public sectors, the petitioner stated.
He blamed the state government for failing to take action against the workers’ unions to prevent the strike and noted the state is duty-bound to take all necessary precautionary measures to prevent the strike. He sought the court to grant an interim injunction against the unions to go ahead with the strike.