Kerala HC vacates stay on merger of two sub post offices

Kochi: High court on Tuesday vacated its earlier interim stay order on the merger of the Thottakkattukara sub post office with the Aluva UC College sub post office and Paravoor Market sub post office with Paravoor Town Class III sub post office.The bench of Justice C P Mohammed Nias passed the order after the assistant solicitor general (ASG) submitted that both post offices had already been merged even before the court issued the stay order. HC was considering a petition filed by the National Association of Postal Employees, Group C, Aluva Division, challenging the merger/closure of the post offices.While considering the petition on April 24, a single bench had issued an interim stay on the merger process of the sub-post offices. The court had also directed the central govt and the chief postmaster general, Kerala circle, to file their counter-affidavits in the matter.During hearing on Tuesday, the ASG submitted that the merger of the sub post offices was completed on April 23 — a day before the interim stay order was issued. The ASG further submitted that this fact could not be brought to the notice of the bench earlier as copies of the relevant documents had not been served.Recording the ASG's submission, HC vacated the interim stay on the merger of the post offices under challenge and adjourned the petition for consideration to May 26.