HYDERABAD: The state government is likely to present before the Telangana High Court that it was not, per se, against holding talks with the striking TSRTC Joint Action Committee (JAC), when hearings on the petition on the TSRTC employees’ strike resume on Friday.
According to sources, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, after discussing the pros and cons with Transport Minister P Ajay Kumar and officials at Pragati Bhavan here on Thursday, wanted the advocates representing the government to draw the attention of the court to the fact that it had constituted a committee of officials to hold talks with employees’ unions before they went on strike on October 5, but the employees themselves walked out, announcing that the talks had failed.
The chief minister also wanted the counsels to point out to the court that the employees cannot go on strike on their own, without considering the scale of disruption it would cause to public transportation. Such strikes were not legal, the chief minister reportedly asserted, while discussing the issue with the officials.
The chief minister also wanted facts to be presented comprehensively before the Telangana high court on the alternative arrangements made to ease the transportation problems. He wanted the court to also be informed that a similar presentation was made to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.