Uber, Ola Suffer a Blow as Supreme Court Revives Ban on Bike Taxis in Delhi

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the High Court order by which it had essentially allowed bike-taxi aggregators Rapido and Uber to operate in the national capital by asking the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against them till a new policy was formulated.

A vacation bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal granted liberty to the two aggregators to request urgent hearing of their plea by the Delhi HC.

The bench, which stayed the May 26 order of the High Court, also recorded the Delhi government counsel’s submission the final policy will be notified before July-end.

The top court was hearing two separate petitions by the AAP government challenging the May 26 order of the High Court asking it not to take any coercive action against the bike-taxi aggregators until the final policy was notified.

The top court had in the last week sought a response from the Central government on both the pleas of Delhi government. 

Back in May, the Delhi government approved Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme 2023 to regulate cab aggregators and delivery service providers in the national capital. Some of the key highlights of the policy are mandatory panic buttons in taxis, integration with emergency number ‘112’, and phase-wise transition to EVs.

The Motor Vehicle Aggregator Scheme 2023 will be applicable to any individual or entity that operates, on-boards or manages a fleet of motor vehicles through digital or electronic means or any other means to ferry passengers or connect a driver offering to deliver or pick up a product, courier, package or parcel with a seller, e-commerce entity or consignor.


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Uber, Ola, Rapido Directed to Stop Three-Wheeler Services in Bengaluru Over ‘Exorbitant’ Pricing

India’s southern state of Karnataka has asked cab aggregators Uber, SoftBank-backed Ola, and Rapido to stop three-wheeler services in Bengaluru, a top government official said, accusing them of overcharging and harassing customers.

“They are not authorised to ply autos…They are charging exorbitantly and it’s a serious complaint,” Hemantha Kumara, additional commissioner for transport, Bengaluru, told Reuters.

“We can’t tolerate harassment meted out to customers and justify the exorbitant rates,” he said, adding the transport department issued a notice to the companies to stop the service in India’s IT hub on Thursday.

Ola and Uber India declined to comment. Uber in recent weeks has been running television ads on its autorickshaw service in India.

The country is a growing market for ride-hailing companies as people seek to avoid driving on congested roads and autorickshaws, or tuk-tuks, are one of the most economical modes of short travel.

Rapido said its operations in Bengaluru are not illegal and it will respond to the notice.

“All our fares are determined in accordance with the fares decided upon by the state government, and Rapido is not charging any extra money over those fares,” the company said in a statement.

Last month, India’s competition regulator had said that surge-pricing adopted by cab aggregators in the country appeared to be a ‘Black Box’ for customers and urged for transparency.

© Thomson Reuters 2022


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