In a blow to bike taxi aggregator apps, the Karnataka high court on Wednesday ruled that bike taxi aggregators cannot operate in the state unless the government notifies relevant guidelines under Section 3 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, along with the necessary rules.
The court has directed the state government and the transport department to ensure that all bike taxi operations cease within six weeks.
The court ruled that the petitioners, including Rapido, Uber, Ola and other bike taxi aggregators, must halt their operations within the stipulated period. The state government has been given three months to frame the necessary rules and guidelines for bike taxi operations.
“The transport department cannot be directed to register motorcycles as transport vehicles or issue contract carriage permits for such services until appropriate government regulations are in place,” the order stated.
Responding to the judgment, a Rapido spokesperson said: “The Hon’ble high court of Karnataka has directed aggregators to cease operations of bike taxis after 6 weeks and accordingly directed the state transport department to not take any adverse action within such time. Karnataka born Rapido is concerned about the welfare of lakhs of bike taxi captains on-boarded on the platform, and will evaluate and pursue appropriate legal remedies once the detailed order is made available.”
Ola and Uber did not respond to request for comments till the time of going to the press.