HRTC employees call of strike as govt files contempt of court

Transport services in Himachal Pradesh resumed today as HRTC employees called of their strike after the High Court took a serious view of the defiance of itsorder and asked them to resume duty.
The court directed the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) employees unions to call off the strike, else their action would be deemed to be aggravating the contempt already committed by them.
HRTC officials said the services have been resumed.
The JCC defied the court orders and had proceeded on strike yesterday even as the High Court observed that the action of the employees, prima facie amounted to contempt of the Court.

The leaders of the committee held a meeting with the Principal Secretary (Transport) last night and refused to accept the orders passed by a division bench comprising Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Sandeep Sharma yesterday.
"The employees leaders refused to accept the copy of High Court orders and left the meeting and the government has filed a contempt case which would come up for hearing in the afternoon," the Principal Secretary Sanjay Gupta said.

He said the leaders pressed the demand for conversion of HRTC into roadways and payment of salaries and allowances like in Punjab and Haryana and left the meeting when they were clearly told that the demand could not accepted and the chief minister had already rejected the demand.

The employees had given call for a strike on June 14 and 15 and the strike was to continue till mid night today.
Initially, the HRTC bus services resumed on some routes, even as a section of employees tried to disrupt the services but later services resumed completely after the contempt case was filed, Gupta said.
While directing the JCC leaders not to go on strike, the High Court had asked the government to hold negotiations and settle the issues raised by them by June 20.
The court had also asked the government to give a list of the employees who went on strike yesterday.