Karnataka High Court Directs Bike Taxi Aggregators To Stop Operations In State

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday held that bike taxi aggregators like Rapido, Uber and others cannot operate in the state unless the State government issues relevant guidelines and rules under the Motor Vehicles Act. The Court ordered that the State government has to in six weeks ensure that all bike taxi operations cease to operate.

A single judge, Justice B M Shyam Prasad passed the order while dismissing a batch of petitions filed by Uber India Systems Private Limits, Ani Technologies Private Limited, Ropeen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd and another. The state government has been given three months to frame the necessary rules and guidelines.

The petitioner had in 2022 approached the court seeking a direction to the state government to permit the registration of motorcycles as transport vehicles and permit aggregation of motorcycles. By way of an interim order passed in 2022, the court had restrained the respondent authorities from taking any coercive action against the petitioners.

The court has while dismissing the petitioner referred to an expert committee report of 2019, which had considered the impact of bike taxis on traffic and safety. A detailed order of the judgment is to be made available.

Case Title: ROPEEN TRANSPORTATION SERVICES PVT LTD AND State of Karnataka & Others

Case No: WP 14627/2021

Citation No: 2025 LiveLaw (Kar) 130

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