The strike by over 48,000 TSRTC employees entered the 39th day on Tuesday.
In a bid to end the ongoing deadlock between the Telangana government and employees of the state's Road Transport Corporation (RTC), the High Court on Tuesday said that it had decided to constitute a three-member committee. The RTC employees in the state have been on strike for over a month.
The court said that the committee would comprise three retired judges from the Supreme Court and would aim to break the impasse. Three parties are presently arguing their case in court — the Telangana government, the TSRTC (state-owned public utility), and the employee unions.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Abhishek Reddy, which has been hearing the case, said that it could now 'order' or 'direct' the government to appear before the committee and participate in the arbitration proceedings, instead of simply 'requesting' it to hold talks with the employees.
According to reports, the court took the decision under Section 10A of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and said that it was a 'last resort'. It hoped that something fruitful would come out of the committee within a week.
RTC Joint Action Committee (JAC) Convenor E Aashwathma Reddy welcomed the court's proposal.
The strike by over 48,000 TSRTC employees entered the 39th day on Tuesday. Their main demand is the merger of TSRTC with the government, so that they are treated on par with other state government employees.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government, led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, has rejected the demand for the merger, saying it will open the floodgates for similar demands by employees of other corporations.
On November 2, the state Cabinet had decided to privatise 5,100 bus routes, further angering the employees, who are on strike since October 5. However, this decision was stayed by the High Court.
Read: Telangana RTC strike reaches Washington: TRS leader Vinod Kumar faces protests
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