a day ago
No bike taxis in Karnataka from Monday as HC refuses to stay single-bench order suspending their operations
In a setback to bike taxi aggregators, the Karnataka High Court on Friday refused to stay a single-bench's order suspending the services of bike taxis in the state. The division bench of Acting Chief Justice Kameswar Rao and Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar directed the petitioners – Ola, Uber and Rapido – and the respondent (transport department) to file their submissions by June 20, while the matter was adjourned to June 24.
However, the April 2 single-bench order by Justice Shyam Prasad will continue to be in effect till then, with the two-judge bench refusing to provide any interim relief to the aggregators.
Justice Rao observed that an interim relief could have been given to aggregators, provided the state government considered drafting a bike taxi policy. 'However, in this case, the state government has clearly made a policy decision (of not being interested in framing a bike taxi policy),' he noted.
The aggregators had appealed to the division bench seeking a stay on the single-bench's order and an extension of the deadline to suspend bike taxis operations in the state. This comes after the high court granted an extension for suspending bike taxi operations by another four weeks from May 14, modifying the single bench order. The deadline will now end on June 15, Sunday.
The petitioners argued that in the absence of rules by the state, the guidelines issued by the central government under the Motor Vehicles Act should apply. However, the state government countered that the Centre's guidelines are persuasive and not binding unless adopted by the state.
The absence of an interim relief is likely to hit operations of bike taxi aggregator Rapido and others in the field like Ola and Uber. The April 2 order had directed all bike taxi operators to suspend their operations, pending formation of rules by the state government under Section 93 of Motor Vehicles Act.
Rapido had argued that a blanket ban in the absence of regulation would directly impact the livelihoods of over 6 lakh people across Karnataka. The company also submitted that it had disbursed over Rs 700 crore to captains and paid over Rs 100 crore in GST contributions across categories in Bengaluru over the last years.
Rapido stated that over 75 per cent of bike taxi riders use the platform as their chief source of livelihood, earning an average of Rs 35,000 per month. The company also said that using two-wheelers as contract carriages had been legal since the inception of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, with an advisory to this effect issued by the Centre reiterating this position in law.
