After HC order, no bus strike from today

Bengaluru: Hours after Karnataka high court Tuesday restrained Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation employees from going on strike from Wednesday seeking higher wage revision, trade unions have withdrawn the call.Jayadevaraje Urs, convener of Joint Action Committee of trade unions of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation Employees, said the court has directed the state govt to fix a date for discussing employee grievances. A key demand is a 25% hike in wages from Jan 1, 2024. Govt has announced a 12.5% revsion, effective April 1, 2025. Welcoming the court order, transport minister Ramalinga Reddy said the strike call was against the interest of both corporations and employees. "We have taken a decision to revise the salary and initiated measures to pay salary arrears of 26 months. Despite this, they had called for a strike. We will obey the court order," he said.Earlier in the day, a vacation division bench comprising Justices Suraj Govindaraj and K Manmadha Rao passed the interim order after hearing a public interest litigation filed by C Vedavathi, a housewife, and HV Sreedhara, a construction worker, both from Bengaluru. The petitioners submitted that the strike would impact the daily commuters and students taking the SSLC examination.As the govt advocate sought time for filing a response to the petition citing pending talks, the bench granted two days' time, indicating talks between labour unions, the transport minister and the CM could be held. The bench said since 12.5% pay hike has already been given, the employees should not go on strike. The petitioners claimed the strike call was illegal under Karnataka Essential Services Maintenance (Amendment) Act and Industrial Disputes Act. There is no statutory or legal right to strike for employees of statutory corporations performing essential public services, they added.