Telangana HC notice to govt on untrained RTC drivers

Hyderabad: A division bench of Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy, on Monday issued notices to the state government and TSRTC on a Public Interest Litigation alleging that the number of road accidents in the state has increased due to hiring of untrained drivers to ply RTC buses after the corporation employees have gone on strike.

In his PIL, advocate Gopala Krishna Kalanidhi stated that the corporation has hired as RTC bus drivers persons with driving licences to drive heavy vehicles, without checking their experience in driving buses. The advocate contended that these drivers do not possess the requisite skills and experience in driving the public transport buses. As a result, the number of road accidents in the state has increased, threatening human lives in the process.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the state and RTC to take initiative in organising a 90-day training programme for drivers who are plying buses in the state, so that the number of road accidents in the state comes down.

“Even a candidate who has failed 10th but possesses driving license is authorised by authorities to ply a bus, due to which lives of commuters on the road and passengers in the bus are put to peril,” the advocate submitted.

The chief secretary, principal secretary of transport department, in-charge MD of TSRTC and minister for transport are respondents in the PIL. The bench directed them to respond within four weeks.

Meanwhile, Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili, has adjourned to Wednesday (November 27) the petition seeking a directive to RTC that salaries of September month be paid to the corporation workers. The judge asked RTC to come with its stand by that day without any delay.