TSRTC gets Telangana high court relief in row with PF body

HYDERABAD: In a huge relief to TSRTC that was aggrieved with the sudden action of the regional provident fund commissioner in getting some of its key Hyderabad bank accounts frozen, Justice CV Bhaskar Reddy of Telangana high court has suspended the freezing orders of the PF authorities and allowed the RTC to operate its accounts.
The judge made this interim order while hearing an urgent plea moved by the RTC.He sought counters from the RTC authorities and posted the case to July 15 for further hearing.
The PF authorities who unsuccessfully tried to prevail over the RTC authorities to streamline the PF remittances, finally decided to use their extraordinary powers to freeze the RTC head office bank accounts. They contend that this is not a sudden action from them.
"We tried to make them compliant with the PF norms. They did not mend their ways. When the dues (pertaining to the period from 2014-2019) are mounting and almost reaching Rs 1,000 crore, we have no other option than to invoke the penal provisions," the PF officials said.
As freezing of its accounts will have serious consequences for its operations, the RTC moved the court seeking urgent relief to enable it to operate its transport duties smoothly.
Appearing for the corporation, advocate general A Sudarsan Reddy said that the EPF amounts were to be remitted by both APSRTC and TSRTC. "PF officials did not look at the problems posed by the bifurcation and are fastening the liability on TSRTC alone," he said.
"Even the amounts lying in the EPF trust are yet to be divided and shared. Even before both our corporations could distribute the same among ourselves, the PF officials chose to freeze our accounts," the AG said.
The prohibitory orders imposed by PF officials cannot be sustained because they were unlawful, he said.
The judge said that the issue needed detailed examination and suspended the freezing orders as an interim measure.