The High Court’s ruling against the division of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation into four separate independent corporations has brought cheers to 70,000 RTC employees.
The workers and staff of the four corporations -- North-East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) having jurisdiction over five districts of Gulbarga region, North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) covering seven districts of Belgaum region, KSRTC with jurisdiction over rest of the State and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) -- have heaved a sigh of relief over the admission of their petition by the court.
“We were expecting this judgment as the division of the single corporation was not only illegal but also anti-employee,” says NEKRTC Workers & Staff Federation Convenor P Vilaskumar.
He alleges that the division was aimed only at dividing workers in the guise of bringing efficiency and competition. “Today every one knows that the three corporations have become white elephants,’’ he said.
The 19,000-employee NEKRTC, which came into existence in 2000, is still reeling under loss which stood at Rs 14 crore for 2006-07. “Even with exploitation of employees touching a new low, the corporation has nothing to show for efficiency. The corporation, which has even been hiring private buses of late, has given it up after burning its fingers.
A system where drivers are supplied by the private fleet-owners while the conductors belong to the corporation, has resulted in severe complications, including major accidents,” says he. Though the NEKRTC and NWKRTC claim to be independent and autonomous, they hardly reflect it in their functioning. They still look at KSRTC and the State government for major decisions, including recruitment of staff.
‘Farcical autonomy’
The farcical autonomy has once again been exposed as both have blindly decided to implement the KSRTC’s decision to raise bus fares in the guise of improving infrastructure, he alleged.
However, the relief the workers feel now may not long last if the State government chooses to challenge the single-judge order. In any case, Justice Gowda has stayed the operation of the order for six weeks. The judge has pointed out that the KSRTC Act provides for creation of subsidiaries but not independent corporations.
This would mean that these corporations have been functioning illegally for the past 10 years now and the question is how this could be set right.

Transport chiefs meet minister
DH News Service
Bangalore: A day after the Karnataka High Court struck down the division of the KSRTC into four parts, Minister for Transport N Cheluvarayaswamy convened a meeting of  the managing directors of KSRTC and BMTC and officials of the transport department on Tuesday to chalk out the future course of action.
The government is yet to receive the copy of the judgement annuling the division of KSRTC into four separate corporations.
“We will examine all aspects. It is too early to comment on the issue,” Cheluvarayaswamy told Deccan Herald, later.
Sources in KSRTC say the corporation could go in an appeal.
The government may also consider retrospective amendment of the government order of 1997 dividing the corporation.
The issue of subsidiary corporations and procedures not being followed will be examined in detail after seeking appropriate legal opinion soon, they said.
Meanwhile, a former managing director of KSRTC said the division of ther corporation into four separate units in 1997, had made a great deal of difference, resulting in better management and continous profits year after year.
He said, the earstwhile Bangalore Transport Service was incurring loses and was totally dependent on the KSRTC.
The bifurcation into KSRTC and BMTC and subsequent formation of the NWKRTC at Hubli and NEKRTC at Gulbarga was done to improve operational efficiency, he added.