Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Treasurer Gudur Narayana Reddy has advised the State Government officials to restrain from violating law on the issue of strike by RTC employees.
Narayana Reddy, in a media statement on Wednesday, alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was forcing the senior bureaucrats and other officials to mislead the High Court on the RTC issue. He said it was at the Chief Minister’s instance that the officials presented selected statistics before the High Court and concealed the figures of money the government owed to the Road Transport Corporation. He said that KCR has already prepared his mind to privatize the RTC so as to take control over its assets worth thousands of crores and therefore, he is willingly disobeying the directives of the High Court. Unfortunately, he said many senior officials, deliberately or unknowingly, were supporting the Chief Minister in violating the law and rules.
The Congress leader warned that the High Court might initiate ‘contempt of court’ proceedings if the officials continue to mislead it or furnish incorrect and incomplete information. Since the State is run by the Executive, the Chief Secretary and other bureaucrats would face the action and not the Chief Minister. Therefore, the bureaucrats should follow the rules and act as per law instead of protecting the political and commercial interest of KCR.
Reddy reminded that in a democracy, the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary were meant for all the people and they were bound to act as per the provisions in the Constitution. He said that the elected representatives were not empowered to misuse the Executive to mislead the Judiciary for whatever be the reason. He said it is the duty of IAS officers to act as per the Law and not interpret the rules to suit the political requirement of the Chief Minister.
He said there were many instances wherein the courts had punished the senior officials for ‘contempt’ when their orders were disobeyed. Therefore, he said that the officials might face severe action if they deliberately violate the relevant laws on the RTC issues. He said that the legal battle on RTC issues was no more confined to the lives of nearly 50,000 employees or the very survival of a corporation. He said the fight for RTC was now directly linked with the survival of democracy and restoration of Constitution in Telangana. He feared that the democracy would be in serious danger if the RTC employees lose the battle for their rights.
He said that the officials should submit correct details by October 31, as directed by the High Court, and acts as representatives of the Constitution instead of the Chief Minister when the hearing resumes on November 1.