The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation And 4 Others vs. Bahuth Amit Kumar

Facts

The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) and its regional and divisional managers are the appellants in this writ appeal. They are aggrieved by an interim order passed by a learned Single Judge in a writ petition filed by the respondent, Bahuth Amit Kumar, representing Safal Karmachari Sangam. The respondent sought to direct the appellants to collect monthly license fee without insisting on the payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST) along with the license fee, during the pendency of the writ petition. The learned Single Judge had granted this interim relief, restraining the appellants from collecting GST. The appellants filed intra-court appeals against these interim orders, and the operation of these interim orders was stayed. The present writ appeal is one such appeal.

Held

The Division Bench of the High Court, in a batch of writ appeals including W.A. No. 710 of 2019, had previously passed an order on March 9, 2021. In that order, the Court noted that the pleadings in most writ petitions were complete and ripe for final arguments. The parties agreed that instead of pressing the appeals or vacate stay applications, it would be appropriate to have the writ petitions taken up for final hearing and disposal. The Court directed that the writ petitions be taken up for final hearing and disposal by the learned Single Judge, treating a specific writ petition as the lead matter. The interim orders passed in the writ petitions were confirmed, and parties were directed to appear before the learned Single Judge for fixing an actual date for arguments. Applying this previous judgment mutatis mutandis to the present case, the Division Bench disposed of the present writ appeal, confirming the interim order passed in the appeal and directing that the impugned order in the present case shall remain in abeyance. The office was directed to list the connected matters before the Bench having roster on December 27, 2021.

Key Issues

1. Whether the learned Single Judge erred in granting interim relief to the respondent by restraining the appellants from collecting GST along with the license fee, thereby suspending the operation of the impugned order pending final disposal of the writ petition. Arguments for the Appellants (TSRTC): The appellants are aggrieved by the interim orders passed by the learned Single Judge, which restrained them from collecting GST. They have filed intra-court appeals against these orders, and the operation of the interim orders has been stayed. They are seeking to vacate the interim relief granted to the respondent. Arguments for the Respondent (Bahuth Amit Kumar): The respondent, representing the employees' union, sought to collect the monthly license fee without insisting on the payment of GST. The learned Single Judge granted this interim relief, which the appellants are challenging.