Himachal HC directs HRTC employees not to go on strike

Employees of the corporation have called for a strike with effect from midnight of June 14 to June 15

Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday directed Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) employees to not go on strike on June 14-15 and asked the principal secretary (Transport) to redress the legitimate grievances of the employees by June 20.

The orders were passed by a Division Bench, headed by Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir, on a petition filed by Community Initiate trust (a social welfare trust) citing newspaper reports regarding the threat issued by HRTC employees unions to go on a two-day strike.

"We have gone through the dailies in the morning wherein it has been reported that employees of corporation have called for a strike with effect from midnight of June 14 to June 15 which may adversely affect the inhabitants of the entire state," the bench said.

"It is beaten law of the land that the employees cannot go on strike in order to press their demands and this Court has already declared the strike of doctors as illegal," it said.

The petitioner said HRTC is the only public sector organisation involved in transport services, despite the privatisation of the services and it is the sole mode of transport available to the poor people of the state who will suffer badly in case of a strike.

The petitioner had prayed to the court to issue directions to the joint coordination committee of HRTC employees to not indulge in any act of strike, desist from the same in the future and to declare such calls as illegal to maintain smooth transport services throughout the state.