More than Six Lakh riders are working in bike taxi service

Uber India Systems Private Limited, Roppen Transportation Services Limited (Rapido), ANI Technology Private Limited (Ola), and bike taxi owners like Varkuti Mahendra Reddy had filed petitions in the High Court seeking directions to continue bike taxi services in the state.

The order was issued by the bench headed by Justice B.M. Shyam Prasad after hearing the petitions.

During the hearing, the petitioners’ lawyers argued that over six lakh people in Karnataka depend on bike taxis for their livelihood. They expressed that the suspension of bike taxi operations has caused significant hardship to these individuals.

Moreover, they pointed out that various state governments across the country have formulated regulations for bike taxi operations, but no such regulations have been established in Karnataka so far. Thus, the petitioners requested an extension of the timeframe provided by the High Court previously.

After considering the arguments, the bench extended the operation of bike taxi services until June 15 and postponed further hearings. The High Court had previously ordered the suspension of all bike taxi services due to the lack of guidelines for their operation in the state. The petitioners have now approached the High Court again to challenge this order.

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the state government must be directed to grant permission for bike taxis, similar to transport vehicles with yellow registration plates. Several separate petitions were filed by Uber India Systems Private Limited, Roppen Transportation Services Limited, and ANI Technologies Private Limited, urging the state government to issue such directions. The bench had previously ordered to suspend bike taxi services.