Karnataka HC asks RTCs to expeditiously decide on employee appeals
The HinduThe High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday directed the four public road transport corporations in the State to expeditiously decide on the appeal against the suspension of over 3,000 employees in connection with the recent strike. The court allowed the Karnataka State Transport Employees’ League to file common appeals for each division of the RTCs on behalf of the suspended employees of that particular division. In the case of dismissed employees, the court said the appellate authorities should decide on the pleas against their dismissal within two months. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Suraj Govindaraj issued the direction after the State government and the RTCs said they were prepared to consider sympathetically if the suspended employees were to file appeals against suspension. On the demands of the KSTEL, including wage revision as per the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, the court said it would not go into the legalities of these issues at present and might refer the issue for mediation by appointing a retired judge of the High Court if the government, the RTCs, and the union were not able to resolve the issue.