The High Court of Uttarakhand has ordered a stay on the sale of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation’s property in Dehradun to the Urban Development department. The court has ordered that the status quo be maintained.

 The double bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganath and justice Alok Kumar Verma issued this order after hearing on the public interest litigation filed by the transport corporation employees union general secretary Ashok Chowdhry.

In the PIL the petitioner had stated that the transport corporation has about 5.5 acre land in Dehradun city where the corporation has been operating its central workshop.

The petitioner further informed that through an order on behalf of the transport department, this land has been transferred to the urban development department.

 The market value of this land is about Rs 285 crore. Chowdhry also informed the court that the union had submitted a proposal to the State Government that in exchange for this land, the Inter State Bus Terminal in Dehradun be transferred to the transport corporation. However, the government had not replied to the union’s proposal.  The petitioner further informed the court that the transport corporation board chairman and former chief secretary M Ramaswamy had also opposed the step taken by the government.

After that the union had challenged the government’s decision in the high court. The counsel for the petitioner, MC Pant informed that after hearing the matter, the high court bench has ordered a stay on the government’s action. The Government has also been ordered to maintain status quo.