After a gap of two months, several bike taxis resumed operations in Bengaluru on August 21 after the High Court of Karnataka orally requested the State Advocate General to ensure that authorities do not take any precipitative or coercive action against the bike taxi drivers.
On August 20, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Joshi, while hearing appeals filed by Rapido, Uber and Ola, pointed out to A-G Shashi Kiran Shetty that operation of bike taxis is permissible in law, and the government’s ‘policy decision’ not to allow bike taxis has resulted in prohibition of a legitimate commerce.
However, the bench did not pass any interim order in writing while adjourning further hearing on the appeals till September 22.
Mr. Shetty had told the bench that the operation of bike taxis may be a legitimate business, but the law does not vest them with a right to run the business unless there are rules and regulations framed for that purpose.
No statement on decision
As the government had not filed a detailed statement in writing on its ‘decision’ not to allow bike taxies and also not allow their service on the technology platforms of aggregators like Uber, Rapido an Ola, the bench gave time till September 22 to the government to take a ‘conscious’ policy decision on the issue of bike taxies so that the court could examine whether the policy stands legal scrutiny.
Following this, the A-G said that the government, at the highest level, would decide whether or not the government should make a policy and if yes, then what should be the policy on bike taxis.
While adjourning the hearing till September 22, the bench orally told the A-G to give a serious thought over the issues raised in the appeals filed by the aggregators, individual bike taxi owners and their association, as it is an issue related to livelihood.
Bike taxi operations were suspended on June 16 when all three major players Rapido, Uber and Ola disabled the option from their apps following the government’s ban and a single-judge bench of the High Court on April 2 ordered bike taxi operators to cease operations by June 15 while declining to interfere with the ban.
However, on August 21 morning, The Hindu found that both Uber and Rapido had re-introduced the bike taxi booking feature, while Ola has not yet resumed the service. The Hindu has reached out to the aggregators, which did not offer an official comment.
Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy told The Hindu, “As per my knowledge, the High Court had not permitted the resumption of services. However, I have to discuss with the officials, and then we will look into the matter of the resumption of bike taxis by a few aggregators.”
What the appeals says
The aggregators and others, in their appeals before the division bench, have challenged the April 2 judgment of the single-judge bench, which had declared that ‘unless the State Government notifies relevant guidelines under Section 93 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and Rules thereunder, the petitioners cannot operate as aggregators offering bike taxi services, and the Transport Department cannot be issued with directions to register motorcycles as transport vehicles or issue contract carriage permits’.
(This is a developing story, more details awaited)
Published – August 21, 2025 11:44 am IST
