The Karnataka High Court cancelled an earlier ban against bike taxis on Friday — paving the way for Rapido and Uber vehicles to return. The Division Bench led by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru quashed an earlier single judge order that had stopped all such services until the state government framed rules for such operations.
We direct the state govt to consider such applications for registration as transport vehicles and to grant permits to operate as contract carriages,” Times of India quoted the the bench as saying.
The court directed that bike owners or aggregators must apply for the required licences, and the state government is obligated to issue permits in accordance with prevailing legal provisions.
Major relief for gig workers
The ruling brings relief to thousands of bike taxi riders who had been affected after services were halted following the High Court’s refusal earlier in June to stay the government’s ban. The prohibition had triggered widespread protests from gig workers, who argued that the move had severely impacted their livelihoods.
The Namma Bike Taxi Association, which represents bike taxi riders across Karnataka, had repeatedly urged the government to reconsider the ban. In June, the association wrote to Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, seeking his intervention to protect the livelihoods of lakhs of gig workers in the state.
“Over 1,00,000 gig workers in Bengaluru and across Karnataka are losing their right to earn and feed their families because of a blanket ban on bike taxi services,” the association said in its letter, describing the ban as a threat to the dignity and survival of riders dependent on the sector for daily income.