Huge blow for Ola, Uber, Rapido! Delhi govt halts bike taxis, says report

In a fresh blow for Ola, Uber, Rapido, Delhi government's transport department has asked the ride sharing platforms to halt their bike taxis effective immediately.

“It has been brought to the notice that two-wheelers having non-transport (private) registration mark/numbers are being used to carry passengers on hire which is purely commercial operation and a violation of Motor Vehicle Act, 1988,” the transport department said in the notice, reported Moneycontrol on Monday.

The use of two-wheelers for commercial purposes is in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. The first offence could lead to a fine of Rs 5,000 while a second offence could incur a Rs 10,000 fine and imprisonment of up to a year, the department said in a public notice, reported PTI.

The driver will also lose their licence for three months under the circumstances.

The notice said some app-based companies are portraying themselves as aggregators in violation of the 1988 act. This will be punishable with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court refused to grant relief to bike taxi aggregator Rapido against the Maharashtra government's refusal to grant licence to it.

It had noted that amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019 made it clear that aggregators cannot operate without a valid licence. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala noted that Pune's Regional Transport Office had rejected its plea for licence on December 21.

The bench said Roppen Transportation Services Private Limited (Rapido) can challenge the state government's January 19 notification which prohibited the use of "non-transport vehicle" from car pooling in Bombay High Court. It stated that the validity of the RTO's December order would stand subsumed by the subsequent wider decision of the state government.