A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the State government and the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to file an affidavit detailing the measures taken for protecting the assets of the KSRTC.
The Bench comprising Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Sophy Thomas issued the directive on a public interest litigation (PIL) which alleged that valuable assets of the KSRTC were being wasted away on account of negligence and insouciance of the corporation. According to the petition, a large number of buses were kept in open in various depots, exposing them to the vagaries of nature.
The court observed that the KSRTC had a large contingent of employees, both on the mechanical and garage side, who were expected to take care of the buses and other assets. Therefore, even if the buses could not be run for various reasons, the court could not countenance the fact that a large number of them were being allowed to fall into disrepair for lack of care and accountability. When the KSRTC was going through extreme fiscal crisis, such a condition would have to be looked into deeply.
The court pointed out that only when the assets of the KSRTC were well taken care of and protected, as would be done by an ordinary person of his own assets. could we expect it to turn around, at least in the distant future.
