By Skandha Gunasekara Bus associations will go before the Supreme Court (SC) to increase bus fares if the semi-luxury service is not disbanded, The Morning learnt. Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) President Gemunu Wijeratne told The Morning that they will seek judicial help if the semi-luxury bus service is not done away with. “We have been calling for some time now, asking them to discontinue the semi-luxury bus service, but the Government seems to be dragging its feet. If this continues, we will have no choice but to go to the Supreme Court and ask for an order to increase the bus fares of the normal service,” he said. He added that this was a matter of fundamental rights being infringed. “We have gone before the Human Rights Commission as we believe our fundamental rights are being violated. If the semi-luxury service isn’t halted, the next step would be to go before the Supreme Court to find recourse,” he said. Wijeratne pointed out that the only difference between ordinary buses and the semi-luxury service is the price, and that the unofficial difference of the latter limiting passengers to the number of seats is not operational. “They charge one-and-a-half times the normal fare but there is no difference in their service. This is an injustice for the normal bus service operators and conductors, as well as the passengers,” he added.