Telangana Governor seeks 5 more clarifications regarding transport corporation employees absorption bill

Hundreds of employees of the TSRTC Saturday morning marched to Raj Bhavan from Ambedkar Statue, demanding the Governor permit the tabling of the bill which the state cabinet has already passed, and allow the corporation employees to become government employees and enjoy the benefits offered to the latter.

With the state assembly election likely to happen in December and the Model Code of Conduct to be enforced in the coming months, employees fear that a stalemate regarding the TSRTC’s merger with the state government would push them back to square one.

The Raj Bhavan Saturday evening clarified that the transition should occur without leaving scope for future legal hurdles. “The entire endeavour of the Raj Bhavan is to ensure that every right and provision of the TSRTC employees are protected, and will continue to be protected after a future notification is issued by the government as mentioned in Para 4 of the Chief Secretary’s letter addressing the initial set of concerns,” a statement said.

After Chief Secretary A Shanti Kumari responded to five queries raised by the Raj Bhavan, including that the Corporation will continue to exist, Governor Sounderarajan raised five more queries Saturday.

The Governor asked if the state government had obtained the concurrence of the Centre, which holds a 30 per cent stake in the Corporation, regarding the merger. She wanted to know the number and details of permanent and temporary employees, besides the details of the proposed legal regime in respect of non-permanent employees. The Governor also wanted to know if the movable and immovable properties of the Corporation would continue to remain with it or if the state government would take over these properties, especially the lands and buildings.

She also wanted clarification from the state government regarding who will operate the fleet of buses and who will be responsible for controlling their functioning and assigning duties for running the fleet. The Raj Bhavan has also sought clarity on the employee status and arrangements once absorbed into government service, that if the employees will continue to work in the Corporation on deputation or any similar arrangements.

Earlier, the Raj Bhavan had said that the Governor was concerned about the pending pay revision of TSRTC employees, their employee provident fund, gratuity, leave encashment dues etc. “A whole lot of retired employees are suffering and sending representations. More than Rs 3,000 crore of employees Welfare Cooperative society’s money taken by govt., yet to be returned to it,” it said.

Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumar then clarified that the Corporation Board would continue as the apex body of the Corporation and manage issues about equity, loan, grant or any other assistance of the Centre and related matters.

After shooting a fresh list of five more clarifications from the state, the Raj Bhavan said these clarifications would enable the Governor to make an informed decision regarding the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill. Sunday is likely to be the last day of the ongoing monsoon session, and tabling of the draft bill before the house is not likely after the Governor sought more clarifications before giving her permission.