HC takes serious view of defiance by road transport employees

Himachal High Court today took a serious view of the defiance of itsorder by the state road transport corporation employees and asked them to immediately call off their strike, failing which they would be punished for contempt of court.
"The strike establishes a blatant defiance and disregard to Court orders and prima facie amounts to Contempt ofCourt," said a division bench of Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Sandeep Sharma.
The court directed the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) employees unions to call off the strike by today, else their action would be deemed to be aggravating the contempt already committed by them.

The HRTC employees today launched two-day strike over several demands, including regularisation of contract staff and protection of pension benefits, crippling transport services in the state.
The High Court had yesterday directed HRTC employees not to go on strike and asked the Principal Secretary (Transport) to redress their legitimate grievances by June 20.
"Each one of them individually and collectively, along with all the employees who have proceeded to go on strike, shall be liable for being prosecuted and punished for aggravating the contempt already committed by them," the bench said in its order today.

The Court also directed the Managing Director, HRTC, to furnish the names of all the employees, who, despite the orders passed by the Court yesterday, have proceeded to go on strike.

Inthe meanwhile, it directed issuance of notice to the respondents to show cause why rule be not framed against them.
The Leaders of the Coordination Committee claimed that the strike was total and the entire fleet of over 2,200 buses was off-road.
The strike hit public transport with only private operators plying buses.