High Court reinstates 45 drivers retired by Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: A little over a year after the Uttarakhand government forced 45 state roadways drivers and conductors to retire, maintaining that they were not physically fit, the Nainital high court has set aside the decision and not only reinstated the employees but ordered for “all the consequential reliefs”.

A single bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani has further said that the workers with the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC) should be reinstated with “immediate effect”. UTC had issued the “forced retirement notice” in September 2022. It was later challenged in the High Court.

After reviewing the documents and hearing arguments, HC observed that the employees were not medically examined before being forced to leave their jobs. No review committee was constituted to assess their performance either.