Hyderabad High Court gives RTC staff 24 hours to call off strike

Hyderabad: Cautioning striking RTC employees that they would face serious consequences if they failed to comply with the court, a vacation bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday gave 24 hours to them to call off their strike.

The bench comprising Justice K.C. Bhanu and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal, while hearing two petitions by Telugu Desam leader C.L. Venkat Rao and Chittoor district resident G. Mohd Ghouse, seeking to declare the ongoing strike of RTC staff as illegal, said, “It is not a mere issue between the employees and an employer. People are suffering on account of this strike and hence this is a public interest issue.”

C.V. Mohan Reddy, senior counsel appearing for Mr Venkat Rao, contended that since the court held that the strike was prima facie illegal and had directed striking employees to resume their duties, the workers and their unions should have listened to the court. He told the court that since they did not obey the orders of the court, they had no right to be heard by the court.