The government and Kerala State Public Service Commission should take steps to recruit adequate law officers for representing the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) in cases, the Kerala high court has ordered.
The order by Justice B P Ray followed a submission by the KSRTC’s legal officer that the corporation is not able to provide information to properly contest cases involving the corporation owing to shortage of law officers.
The court asked the KSRTC to file a representation to the state government for recruiting law officers within a month. It ordered the government and PSC to recruit law officers within three months of receiving the KSRTC’s request. The issue came to the court’s notice while hearing a contempt of court case filed by a former KSRTC driver from Thrissur, who was initially suspended and then dismissed from service on charges of involvement in immoral activities in a KSRTC garage.
The court had quashed the dismissal, asking the corporation to pay salary and pension benefits to the driver. The driver approached the court again as the order was not implemented. tnnThe KSRTC’s standing counsel submitted that the corporation was not providing enough information to contest the case, following which the court asked the corporation’s law officer to appear before it.
A division bench of the high court had criticized KSRTC in August this year for not contesting cases properly. It had pointed out that a transport tribunal order allowing private bus operators to use part of nationalized routes had become final as the corporation failed to appeal against the order in time.
The court also observed that a single bench and a division bench of the high court had earlier taken note of KSRTC’s inaction in the case despite being the beneficiary of the scheme that provided exclusive bus routes for the corporation.
Source: Times Of India
