Kerala govt. to file appeal against High Court ruling quashing distance cap on private bus services

The Transport department will appeal against the Kerala High Court ruling that struck down the rule restricting the operation of private stage carriers up to 140 km, Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar has said.

Addressing the media here on Monday, he said an appeal would be filed against the single judge order which quashed the rule introduced by the State government to protect the interest of the State-run Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) by restricting the private stage carriers from operating services beyond 140 km.

Merit in arguments

The State would be represented by senior lawyers in the High Court. The court struck down a notification issued by the State by pointing out technicalities. “We have merit in our arguments, and the State is hopeful of convincing the court while taking up the appeal,” he said. Maintaining that the KSRTC could not go back from its stance, the Minister said the public utility had placed an order for procuring 200 brand new buses for various routes, chiefly to operate the takeover services.

Revenue earner

Although the State had allocated ₹92 crore for this purpose, the delay in getting the funds had affected the procurement procedures, he said. Ticket collection from long-distance routes accounted for the lion’s share of the KSRTC’s revenue. After the takeover of routes from private buses in 2022, the public utility had a monopoly on the long-distance routes.

The High Court ruling is considered a major setback for the corporation as the private stage carriers no longer required permits from the Motor Vehicles department to resume the services.

The private bus operators had been maintaining that the government notification of taking over the routes from the private bus operators was in violation of Section 102 of the Motor Vehicles Act and Rule 246 of the Kerala Motor Vehicles Rules.

The Minister said that the corporation had introduced a a slew of measures to bring people back to the public transport system maintained by the government by ensuring clean toilets in depots, well-maintained fleet and food break at selected good hotels across the State.

Published - November 11, 2024 09:31 pm IST