Karnataka HC directs bus unions to defer proposed indefinite strike from tomorrow for negotiations
'If the entire public transport operation is stalled, the public are likely to be put to hardship. Therefore, it would be appropriate to grant interim stay till tomorrow awaiting the outcome of negotiations with the Government referred to above. Hence respondent No.7 is hereby directed to put on hold their proposed strike till next hearing date,' a division bench said in an interim order while posting the matter for hearing on Tuesday.
The court was informed that the unions issued a notice for an indefinite strike on July 15 and that 'conciliation meetings were held on 28.07.2025 and 02.08.2025 and that process is still on'. 'It is also submitted that today the meeting of respondent No.7 (Joint Action Committee) and the Chief Minister are also going on,' the court noted.
The court issued the order after a Bengaluru resident, Sunil J, filed a petition opposing the strike on the grounds of widespread inconvenience to the public.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, meanwhile, held a meeting with the Joint Action Committee of the unions on Monday and assured them that no injustice would be done.
'A few rounds of meetings have already been held with representatives of various organizations of the transport corporation. It is possible to resolve the issues through mutual talks. The Chief Minister appealed to withdraw the movement called for tomorrow,' read a statement issued by the chief minister's office after the meeting.
'In 2016, when I was the Chief Minister, I revised the salary. At that time, 12.5 percent was increased. Then in 2020, due to Covid, the then (BJP) government did not revise the salary. There was a salary revision agreement when the previous government was in power on 01-03-23. At that time, it was decided to revise the basic salary by 15 percent,' Siddaramaiah said in the statement.
'The committee formed under the chairmanship of Srinivas Murthy (retired IAS officer) regarding salary revision had recommended that the arrears of salary be paid from 01-1-22 to 28-2-23. Transport representatives also appeared before the committee and submitted their report. The government has accepted the recommendation of the Srinivasa Committee. You should also accept the recommendations of the said committee,' he added.
Based on the committee's recommendations, the BJP Government issued a notification in March 2023, the chief minister said, while adding that the demand for arrears for 38 months was 'not reasonable'. 'When we came to power (May 2023), all the corporations had a total debt of Rs 4,000 crore. In 2018, only Rs 14 crore was outstanding. Currently, no transport corporation is in profit. The government will not do injustice to anyone. All corporations should cooperate. The government is ready to resolve all grievances through talks,' he said.
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