Karnataka High Court extends bike taxi service deadline to June 15, refuses to stay halt order

Bengaluru, June 13 The Karnataka High Court on Friday refused to stay the order of the single-judge bench on stopping bike taxi operations in the state but extended the deadline to June 15.

The order came from a division bench, headed by Acting Chief Justice V. Kameshwara Rao and comprising Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar.

The single-judge bench of Justice B. Shyam Prasad, on April 2, ordered that the bike taxi services will have to stop in six weeks, holding 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 necessary rules.

Hearing a petition by affected parties - the Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited, which owns Rapido, ANI Technologies, which owns Ola, and Uber Technologies of Uber - seeking extension of the deadline to halt the bike taxi services, the division bench stated that they would take up the matter and hear the merits of the case on June 24.

It also said that it was considering a stay on the order prescribing the deadline for bike taxi service, if the state government had started the process of framing rules.

The counsel for the bike taxi aggregators submitted that the bike taxis can operate under the existing framework of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, as rules applying to the cabs will also apply to the two-wheelers.

Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, representing the state, opposed the relief and contended that if two-wheelers can come under the Motor Vehicles Act, they can also bring trucks under it. He further argued that for five years, the bike taxis have been operating without permits.

The court issued notice to the state government authorities, and the Advocate General submitted to the court that the state would make written submissions by June 20.

Passing the order for bike aggregators, including Rapido bike taxis, to halt their operations in the state within six weeks, the bench of Justice Prasad had instructed the state government and the Transport Department to ensure the deadline was followed.

Dismissing the petitions by Rapido, Ola, and Uber, seeking legal recognition of bike taxi services by permitting the registration of such vehicles and directions to the authorities concerned to implement a legal framework for them, the bench had opined that the court cannot give directions to the state to frame regulations and it can’t order the state to register non-transport vehicles as transport vehicles.

"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 bench said.

Rapido had also sought direction to the government authorities not to interfere with its business.

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