PFI Hartal: Kerala High Court Seeks Details Of Treatment Being Given To Injured KSRTC Employees

Justice Devan Ramachandran observed that the said employees are the victims of the events of Hartal day, and would require full support of civil society and the KSRTC.

The court asked Standing Counsel for KSRTC Deepu Thankan to inform it about "the details of treatment of such personnel and whether they were given adequate support by the management", by next date of hearing.

During the hearing today, the Special Government Pleader P. Santhosh Kumar, submitted that the government was seriously considering the recovery of loss to the KSRTC, and that orders had also been issued by another Division Bench in a suo motu matter today.

"Unless the Government initiates swift, decisive, deterrent and adequate action against the culprits, it can never operate as a deterrent against other entities in the future", the Court said, while asking the State to keep this point in mind while responding to its orders.

The Court observed that the easiest way to deter people from going out during any such hartal day was the throwing of stones at buses, adding that KSRTC was the "softest target" of such ill plan.

The Single Judge Bench had earlier directed the State Government to inform how it proposed to recover from the Popular Front of India and its office bearers the losses caused to the KSRTC on account of the attacks against the buses and the loss of trips during the flash hartal called by the PFI party, vide its order dated 23rd September 2022.

The Court had clarified therein that the loss incurred to the KSRTC on the said day was "not merely the repair charges of the vehicles, but the loss of revenue when the trips and schedules are incapacitated, as also the medical expenses of the employees".

The matter has been posted for further hearing on 8th November 2022.

Case Title: T.K. Pradeep v. KSRTC