Reports reaching Amandala this evening indicate that Justice Samuel Awich has dismissed the Transport Board’s case against National Transportation Services Limited and its CEO, David Novelo, brought last Wednesday.
The Board, led by John Flowers, had applied for an amendment to a November ruling by Justice Awich in which he allowed the Novelos (David and brother Antonio) to sue the Government in an attempt to recover lost revenue from the runs the Transport Board discontinued in the South and West under the new zoning plan introduced in October.
That ruling had also allowed the Novelos to continue running buses for which they had permits in the Northern zone.
Amandala understands that in arguments beginning today at 3:00 p.m., attorney for the Board, Lois Young, argued that NTSL had attempted to flood the North with buses forced off their lost southern and western runs, and had no permits for their legitimate runs in the North.
Countering for the Novelos was Lisa Shoman, who introduced an affidavit from her client, David Novelo, in which he claimed that the company’s 10 runs – while operating on expired permits from May of this year – continued to operate with no complaint from the Board or Chief Transport Officer John Briggs. In any case, Novelo reported in the affidavit, the company had already reapplied for the permits for each respective run.
Shoman also reportedly denied that the company’s round trip Premier Line runs are operating illegally; according to court reports she said that the company had legitimately applied for the runs in 2006, was granted them, and reapplied in 2008 after the expiration of the permits.
A request by Young for an order to stop the Novelos from continuing to run extra buses in the North was reportedly denied, and Justice Awich dismissed the case as being “without merit.”
Meanwhile, the company continues to release workers. At press time, NTSL officials would not give an exact figure of how many workers have been made redundant. On December 12, the company made an announcement that it was releasing 160 workers due to salary concerns as a result of October’s reorganization of the bus industry.
The last confirmed report was that at least 70 had been issued their letters of release, last paychecks, benefits and Christmas bonuses, as the company had pledged to do.