Telangana High Court adjourns RTC case to Nov 7

A two Judge Bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy continued to hear the public interest litigation case pertaining to ongoing TSRTC strike. The Bench perused the affidavit filed by corporation and remarked that affidavits filed by the senior IAS officers representing the Corporation and GHMC were purposefully vague and stated at least before court the officers were expected to be fair.

Referring to the affidavit that said that loans were for purchase of buses and not for reimbursement, Advocate General B S Prasad Rao informed the court that the loan in practical purpose was a grant.

“There is a difference between loan and grant, how do you say all the reimbursement amount has been paid and where is the evidence?” questioned the Chief Justice. “Is GHMC legally required to pay the amounts to RTC?”, the Bench asked.

RTC in-charge Managing Director (MD) Sunil Sharma, present in court, replied that the GHMC was not entitled to pay. The Bench remarked that in charge MD was required to represent Corporation, not GHMC and questioned Sharma as to why the Corporation was silent on the reimbursement to be paid by the GHMC. The Bench also pointed out to the statement of GHMC Commissioner who said that the civic body was not in a position to reimburse money to RTC and questioned why the GHMC Commissioner was stepping into the shoes of the



government.

Letters dated October 30 by GHMC and RTC held that GHMC need not pay anything to Corporation. The Bench further observed that these letters were passed after the matter came up before the court. Dissatisfied with the affidavit filed by Sharma, the Bench doubted the genuineness of the details submitted and said “this is the last thing I would expect that IAS officers would pull wool over eyes of the judge.” When the Bench pointed out to the statement of Transport Minister on the floor of the Assembly stating the RTC improved its efficiency and generated Rs 184 crores extra revenue, Sharma replied that compared to previous year the RTC has improved but on the whole it was facing losses.

Senior counsel Prakash Reddy, representing the Union of employees, stated that the Corporation on September 19 addressed a letter to government stating that an amount of Rs 700 crores was due from the government as against the present affidavit that said that the government was not required to pay anything. He further informed the court that the Corporation was hiding facts from the court. The Bench told Sharma that “Corporation cannot take contradictory stands. The Transport Minister’s statement mentions amounts are due to be paid and your affidavit states Corporation has already received more than what is to be paid from the government”. 

The Bench adjourned the case to November 7.