KOCHI: It all went south -- or north? -- quickly! An article in a Congress-affiliated trade union’s house journal projecting a “bright future” for the KSRTC under a UDF government boomeranged on its author, triggering an extreme move: a transfer from Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod -- some 600km away.
Challenging the move, the union leader approached the Kerala High Court, which on Thursday quashed the order, terming the move “punitive” and arbitrary, and ruling that it could not be justified as a routine administrative decision.
Justice N Nagaresh set aside the January 30 transfer order of 48-year-old Sivakumar S, a selection grade assistant at the KSRTC chief office and district secretary of the Kerala State Transport Workers Union, Thiruvananthapuram North. The court also quashed the memorandum of charges issued against him.
Sivakumar’s piece, in a recent edition of the journal, detailed KSRTC’s mounting debts, operational inefficiencies and hardships faced by employees.
The article went a step further, expressing hope that if the UDF returned to power, a management plan and a pro-labour approach would revive the struggling state public-sector unit. At a time when political conversations are intensifying over whether the LDF government can secure an unprecedented third straight term in office, the article did not sit well with authorities. Within weeks of its publication, disciplinary proceedings were initiated.
The KSRTC contended that the article contained misleading statements capable of creating unrest and polarisation among employees. Citing a 2021 circular prohibiting defamatory publications through media platforms, the corporation argued that the act amounted to grave misconduct and justified the transfer pending disciplinary action.
But the HC was unconvinced. “The petitioner has not denied publication of the article. Therefore, the disciplinary issue concerns the legality or justifiability of publishing it. There is not even a remote chance of influencing witnesses or manipulating records,” it observed.
The judge reiterated that while transfers pending disciplinary proceedings are permissible, they must serve a legitimate administrative purpose -- such as preventing interference with witnesses or tampering with evidence. In this case, the alleged misconduct stemmed solely from the publication of the article, leaving no scope for such concerns.Describing the move from the southernmost district to the northern tip of the state as punitive in nature, the court termed it a “high-handed arbitrary action” that could not stand the test of law.
While quashing both the transfer order and the charge memo, the court clarified that KSRTC remains free to proceed with departmental action in accordance with legislation.