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The Karnataka High Court, on Friday, August 22, clarified that it has not allowed the operation of bike taxi aggregators, such as Uber, Ola, and Rapido, in the state and that its order only protected individual bike taxi drivers and owners from coercive action.
A division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi made the oral observation while hearing submissions from Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty on the resumption of bike taxi services by ride-hailing platforms. The AG had informed the court that several ride-hailing platforms had resumed offering bike taxi services on their apps, despite the absence of any such liberty granted by the court.
“You can take any action as per law against them [aggregators],” the bench orally told the AG, while reiterating that authorities had only been asked "not to harass" individual drivers or owners operating bike taxis.
Meanwhile, an advocate representing the Bike Taxi Welfare Association told the court that transport department officials were seizing individual bike taxis and initiating action against the drivers. However, the AG denied this allegation.
Reiterating not to harass individual drivers, the bench said that it could issue a written order to ensure compliance and prevent harassment of individual operators. To this, the AG assured the court that he would appropriately instruct the authorities not to take any precipitative action against individual bike taxi drivers or owners.
On August 20, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi, while hearing appeals filed by Rapido, Uber, Ola, and several bike taxi operators, orally observed that bike taxis are permissible under law. The judges remarked to Advocate-General Shashi Kiran Shetty that the government’s “policy decision” to prohibit bike taxis has effectively curtailed their legitimate business.
The Bench, however, refrained from issuing any interim order on allowing bike taxis to operate and adjourned the matter to September 22.