Hyderabad: The High Court on Saturday said prima facie the ongoing strike by RTC workers was illegal and directed the staff to call off their strike and rejoin duty. However, The employees said they had not received the court order, and would continue the strike till the next day of hearing on May 12.

A vacation bench comprising Justice K.C. Bhanu and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal gave the interim orders while hearing two petitions challenging the strike, moved by TD leader C.L. Venkat Rao and G. Mohammad Ghouse from Chittoor. The hearing was conducted at the residence of Justice Bhanu.

Mr C.V. Mohan Reddy, former advocate general, appearing for Mr Venkat Rao, said both state governments were not taking action despite the fact that strikes were prohibited in the RTC.

Stating that the High Court had held that strikes were illegal on several earlier occasions, he told the court that the people, particularly students and candidates who are appearing for examinations, were made to suffer. Mr Mohan Reddy said the AP government had set up a Cabinet sub-committee to resolve the issue.