Hearing on the public interest litigation filed by the Uttaranchal Roadways Karmchari Union regarding pending salaries and other issues pertaining to roadways employees, the High Court has directed the transport and finance secretaries to pay the Rs 69 crore due to the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) before Deepawali so that the due salaries of the employees can be paid.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the division Bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice Alok Kumar Verma was informed on behalf of the transport secretary that the State Government had been informed on October 19 this year that the Government is yet to pay Rs 69 crore due to the transport corporation.
It was also stated for various Government schemes and special services for the senior citizens, differently abled, election duty and during disasters, the Government is supposed to pay the UTC for the free services its buses are used to provide.
However, the government has not made this reimbursement. The Government had earlier issued an order for payment of Rs 85 crore out of which Rs 19 crore had been paid to the UTC while Rs 69 crore is yet to be paid by the Government.
It was also stated that the UTC is a commercial enterprise and if the Government wants to operate it for free, the Government also has to reimburse the corporation for it.
