Satisfied with government including her recommendations, Telangana Governor gives assent to TSRTC Bill

The Governor was satisfied that the recommendations — made in consideration of employee representations and the overall welfare of the corporation — were diligently addressed.

Ever since the Cabinet took the decision to take TSRTC employees on the government rolls, on 31 July, and sent the draft Bill to the Governor for clearance, as it had financial implications for the state government, it kept on hitting speed bumps. The Raj Bhavan received the bill at 3.30 pm on 2 August.

The Raj Bhavan then said: “The Assembly was scheduled to meet on 3 August and the draft Bill of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (Absorption of Employees into Government Service) Bill, 2023, was received at Raj Bhavan, Hyderabad, on 2 August, at about 3.30 pm, requesting permission to introduce the same in Assembly. It requires some more time to examine it and obtain legal opinion for taking a decision on the request.”

The Governor allowed the Bill to be presented in the Assembly after making 10 recommendations to be incorporated into the draft. The Bill was unanimously passed in the Assembly on 6 August.

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The recommendations made by the Governor

• Ownership of the lands, assets, and properties of the TSRTC should be with the management of the corporation for its sole and exclusive use, even after the absorption of RTC employees as government employees. The government should give an explicit undertaking to that effect.

• The assets should be divided between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the process involved should be completed in accordance with the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, 2014. The government should clarify and assume the liability of clearing the arrears from the erstwhile APSRTC.

• The wages of the TSRTC employees once absorbed as government employees should be on the same scale as other state government employees. They should have the same, service rules, and regulations vis-à-vis salary, transfers, promotions, retirement pensions, provident funds, and other gratuities.

• The TSRTC employees should have the feasibility and facility to request ‘compassionate appointment’ for family members on medical grounds if the employee becomes unfit for service owing to the extreme stress and physical strain of work with the RTC.

• Disciplinary proceedings within the RTC are extremely stringent. “Therefore, it is recommended that the disciplinary proceedings be more humane and in tandem with the same service rules and regulations as the remaining government employees and the relevant service rules,” said the Governor.

• Further, if the RTC’s absorbed employees are sent on deputation to other departments, it is recommended that their grade, pay, salary, promotions, and other components must be protected for their benefits so that there is no disturbance vis-à-vis their elevations and promotions.

• She also asked the government that the contract employees or outsourced employees should also be treated and given similar benefits and salaries pursuant to state service rules as regular employees and that their services must be recognised and protected for further service in other capacities or departments, including provident funds.

• Regular employees and contract employees, as long as they are in service, receive the same health benefits of RTC hospitals, government-sponsored treatment up to a certain level, and insurance benefits in tandem, and the families of regular employees should also be included in the health benefits scheme.

• The government take over the maintenance of buses, through outsourcing to an independent entity or in any other manner, undertaking to bear the financial burden of the maintenance and upkeep of the buses for the safety of the people.

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Further delay

After the Bill was passed, it came back to the Governor for her assent. But she took her own time and referred the Bill to the law secretary as she wanted to make sure that all her recommendations were incorporated in the Bill that was passed in the legislature.

The move, seen as the Governor delaying the Bill becoming an Act, agitated the TSRTC employees who had earlier staged a protest outside Raj Bhavan when the Governor took her time giving assent for presenting the Bill in the Assembly.

In a press communique on 17 August, the Raj Bhavan, referring to the Telangana Government Business Rules and Secretariat Instructions, said that the Governor sending Bills to the law secretary was normal practice.

The Raj Bhavan said that the Governor had provided 10 recommendations based on representations she received and in the best interests of the employees and the well-being of the TSRTC, and the Bill was sent to the law secretary to ascertain whether these had incorporated.

The Raj Bhavan also said that the press note was being issued to quell misinformation that has been circulating in certain quarters, including the print and electronic media, claiming that the Governor has withheld the TSRTC Bill and decided to reserve it for the assent of the President of India.

After satisfying herself that her suggestions were made part of the bill, she finally gave her assent on 14 September.