More than 2.5 lakh pilgrims have visited Lord Ayappa Temple at Sabrimala in Kerala's Pathanamthitta district in the first six days of the ongoing pilgrimage season, said Kerala Devaswom Department Minister K Radhakrishnan on Wednesday.

Kerala High Court has directed the State Government to come up with a plan for the future payment of salaries of the employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Kochi:  Kerala High Court has directed the State Government to come up with a plan for the future payment... The post appeared first on .

Kerala High Court has directed the State Government to come up with a plan for the future payment of salaries of the employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Kochi:  Kerala High Court has directed the State Government to come up with a plan for the future payment... The post appeared first on .

The direction from the court came while hearing the petitions of the employees of the KSRTC seeking direction to the KSRTC and its MD to formulate a scheme for payment of salary to its employees atleast before the 5th day of every month.

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus driver and several passengers were injured in the accident.

Kochi (Kerala) [India], May 6 (ANI): The Kerala High Court's vacation bench, on Friday, set aside an interim order of its single bench that directed the state-owned Oil Marketing Companies (OMC) to levy the price of High-Speed Diesel (HSD) for Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) at par with the price available at retail pumps temporarily.

Kochi Apr 26 PTI The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the state-run oil marketing companies OMCs what was the reason for a difference in the retail and bulk purchase rates of fuel supplied by them and what was the price fixation mechanism adopted by them What is the logic or reason for the difference in prices of retail and bulk purchase of high speed diesel How do all three OMCs decide the prices Do they sit together On what basis or based on what material do they fix the prices Give us the material for that if you can the high court asked the companies These queries were put to the OMCs by a bench of Justices C S Dias and Basant Balaji during the hearing of their appeals challenging a single judge interim order of April 13 directing them to provide high speed diesel HSD to the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation KSRTC at retail rates instead of the higher bulk purchase price Answering the queries of the court the OMCs said that when global fuel prices increased drastically this year they decided not to implement a steep increase in retail prices as it could have led to public unrest Therefore in order to blunt the impact of the increase in fuel prices on the general public it was decided to gradually hike the rates over a period of time the OMCs told the court Regarding price fixation the companies said that several parameters like global crude prices expected future crude prices local taxes transportation costs were considered while fixing the rates which were slightly different for each OMC The OMCs represented by senior advocate Parag Tripathi said that the single judge did not consider that price fixation was a policy matter and a discretion of the companies while granting the interim relief to KSRTC and terming the rates as exorbitant The single judge had prima facie observed in the order that the price charged by OMCs from KSRTC was highly exorbitant and that if the rates levied were pursuant to any agreement the same was an extremely unconscionable term of bargain The interim order had come on a plea by KSRTC challenging the OMCs decision to charge a higher rate from bulk purchasers of HSD as compared to retail prices of the fuel In their respective appeals the OMCs -- Indian Oil Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum -- have contended that the single judge also did not consider their argument regarding non-maintainability of plea as it was a contractual issue and that there was an arbitration clause in their agreement The OMCs also told the bench that KSRTC cannot ask for retail rates when it was enjoying the benefits of door step delivery of the fuel and 45 days credit under the bulk fuel purchase agreement with them The OMCs also contended that KSRTC was till January this year receiving fuel at prices which were lesser than the retail rates and it started complaining the moment the situation changed The companies also contended that they were not against supplying HSD to KSRTC and claimed that the latter was not purchasing it They also alleged that KSRTC owed them several crores of unpaid dues for the fuel supplied to it Opposing the OMCs plea and their contentions KSRTC -- represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Deepu Thankan -- argued that what the oil companies were doing was unconstitutional and arbitrary Dave argued that OMCs conduct towards KSRTC amounts to hostile discrimination by one public sector undertaking PSU against another He said that KSRTC was not asking for any discounted rates as it was receiving in the past and was only asking that it be charged competitive market driven prices as was provided for in the contract with the OMCs The market prices were the retail rates of HSD and if private bus operators the competitors of KSRTC were getting fuel at those rates then the corporation should too Dave argued The court pointed out that KSRTC was enjoying the benefits of doorstep delivery as well as 45 days credit for making payment which were not available to those purchasing fuel from retail outlets The bench also pointed out that KSRTC had in the past got fuel at much lesser rates than the retail prices Dave responded that KSRTC was no longer purchasing fuel as a bulk purchaser as it cannot afford to do so any longer He also said that the transport corporations financial burden on account of the increased fuel prices was increasing at the rate of Rs 85 lakh per day and it cannot continue to sustain its operations for long He contended that the OMCs decision was also against general public interest as KSRTC was providing a public service The bench after hearing arguments from both sides for over two hours reserved its judgement on the OMCs appeal and said that verdict may be expected by May 2 PTI HMP SS SS SS

Kochi Mar 22 PTI The Kerala High Court on Tuesday declined to stay the state-owned oil companies OMCs decision to hike price of bulk diesel purchases or restrict them from further increasing the rates but asked them to explain the manner in which their pricing mechanism worked The order of the high court came on a plea by Kerala State Road Transport Corporation KSRTC challenging the OMCs decision to charge a higher rate from bulk purchasers of diesel as compared to retail prices of the fuel While asking Indian Oil Corporation Ltd Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd to file a statement explaining their pricing mechanism Justice N Nagaresh said that the OMCs should have given differential treatment to public service utilities like KSRTC You should give some differential treatment to public service utilities You know how KSRTC is functioning the court said Alleging hostile discrimination against KSRTC by the OMCs advocate Deepu Thankan -- representing the state transport corporation -- urged the high court to either stay the price hike or to restrict any further increase in the rate for bulk purchasers Thankan said the corporation was already running under heavy losses and without any interim relief it would be forced to shut down The court declined to pass any interim order in favour of the corporation saying there is no scope for an interim order right now Let the statement of the OMCs come first the court said and added that the KSRTC was to blame for running in loss The court also pointed out that the transport corporation had sought to be treated as a bulk purchaser and as a result had been enjoying the benefits of discounted prices for some time Thankan said that it chose the option to purchase diesel in bulk at discounted prices as it was providing a public service and it had separate fuel pumps for its buses as otherwise traffic snarls would be caused at retail outlets due to queuing up of its vehicles there KSRTC in its plea has contended that it has to pay more than Rs 27 extra per litre for diesel to the state-run oil manufacturing companies OMCs as compared to the rate of the fuel at private retail outlets Even the diesel supplied to private bus operators by OMCs was at a lesser rate than that charged from KSRTC the petition has claimed The transport corporation has claimed that it was charged Rs 12135 per litre for diesel by the OMCs while the other consumers of the companies were getting it for Rs 9172 per litre There is no reason forthcoming for supplying the diesel to the KSRTC alone at a higher price It cannot be said that it is because of the bulk use by the KSRTC as there is no shortage of petroleum products in the country There is no valid explanation for treating KSRTC as a separate class the plea filed through advocate Deepu Thankan has said Presently KSRTC operates 5481 buses on 3525 routes every day with a ridership of around 184 lakh per day it said and added that it presently requires around 300-400 kilolitres of diesel per day This is lesser than the pre-COVID-19 situation when the transport corporation was operating 6241 buses on 6389 routes every day with an average ridership of 35 lakh per day the petition said It has contended that permitting OMCs to charge bulk buyers more than retail purchasers would push the already ailing corporation into the deep abyss of debt and will deprive the general public of its services The OMCs decision to increase price of bulk purchase of diesel will result in an approximate accumulated loss of around Rs 83 lakh per day for the KSRTC the petition has claimed The increase in the price of diesel to the KSRTC alone will force them to take a decision to cancel the schedules to manage the cost of services The increase in price of diesel will directly affect the KSRTC passengers as the KSRTC will have to proportionally increase the tariff rates the plea has further contended KSRTC in its plea has urged the court to direct the OMCs to sell diesel to it at the market rates prevailing at retail outlets and to declare the charging of a higher price from the corporation as discriminatory arbitrary unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution PTI HMP SS SS

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], August 29 (ANI): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarati Vijayan flagged off Samudra bus service operated by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) to ferry women fish vendors from coastal areas to the city on Saturday.