Telangana HC dismisses PIL opposing move to privatise 5,100 TSRTC routes

Hyderabad: The Telangana government's efforts to privatise 5,100 routes of the state road transport corporation received a shot in the arm after the Telangana High Court dismissed a public interest litigation opposing the move.

The PIL filed by professor P L Vishwesar Rao had said that the government was being vindictive as RTC employees are on a strike.

Junking the petition, a division bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy cited Section 102 of the Motor Vehicle Act that gives special powers to a government to take action to meet the transportation needs of the people.

The court observed that it was only with liberalisation that monopoly was broken in many sectors, ultimately benefitting the public. It said the move should be welcomed as it is aimed at meeting the needs of the travelling public.

The court asked the state to follow the procedures as contemplated in the Act before giving permits for the TSRTC routes to private players. The HC also asked the government to ensure that such private participation doesn't exceed 50 percent.

Telangana CM got approval from his cabinet for privatisation of TSRTC routs. Ok, let CM KCR Privatise remaining departments . So that! governance will be easy for him. With the competition all departments will work sincerely and Telangana government can fetch lot of revenue.

— kancharla dharma Reddy (@kancharladharm4) November 2, 2019

Advocate General B S Prasad told the HC that the Principal Secretary of the Transport department will oversee the entire process.