Karnataka HC grants six weeks for aggregators of bike taxis to stop operations

The bike taxi aggregators had approached the court seeking direction to the Transport Department to register two-wheelers as transport vehicles.

A view of the Karnataka High Court (File Photo | Nagaraja Gadekal, EPS)

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court granted six weeks to Ola, Uber, and Rapido to cease all their operations as aggregators of bike taxis.

After six weeks, the state government was permitted to ensure that all bike tax operations had to be stopped.

Justice B M Shyam Prasad On Wednesday pronounced the order by disposing of a batch of petitions filed by Uber India Systems Private Limited, ANI Technologies Private Limited and others in 2022 seeking directions to the state government to consider their applications submitted in 2022 to register motorcycles as transport vehicles.

The court said that unless the state government notified the relevant guidelines under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Rules there under, the petitioners cannot operate as aggregators offering bike taxi services and the Transport Department of the State of Karnataka cannot be issued directions to register motorcycles as transport vehicles.

When the attention of the court was drawn to the fact that Ola, Uber and Rapido are operating the bike taxis based on the interim order passed by the court during the pendency of these petitions, the court made it clear that six weeks permitted them to operate from today and they have to cease their operations as an aggregator of bike taxis within six weeks and the state government is called upon to ensure that all bike taxi operators has to be stopped after six weeks.

When the court was requested by the counsel of one of the petitioners to stay the order till the filing of the appeal against it, the court said that is why it has permitted the petitioners to operate bike taxis for six weeks and the government was directed to stop all bike taxi services after six weeks.